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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23656393">lust for life</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kleine_waldfee/pseuds/kleine_waldfee'>kleine_waldfee</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>ATEEZ (Band)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Attempt at Humor, Don't Try This At Home, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, Skateboarding, Slice of Life, Strangers to Lovers, both of them fuck, contemporary, corona virus lockdown, head shaving...kind of, or should i say strangers to quaranTHANG, this is NOT how social distancing works, this is a vers household, this is just a lot of words about a lot of nothing tbh, yeonytail (yeosang ponytail)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:01:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,197</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23656393</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kleine_waldfee/pseuds/kleine_waldfee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The lockdown and its subsequent lack of social interactions are taking a toll on Yeosang. One day, he meets Seonghwa, who happens to live in the same dorm building as Yeosang. They hit it off and quickly become friends. Or something like that.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kang Yeosang/Park Seonghwa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>212</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>lust for life</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>is it really my fic if the title isn't a lana del rey song? </p><p>i hope everyone is staying safe and practicing actual social distancing because what you're about to experience ain't it tbh</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Yeosang was staring at the ceiling. Creamy white, perfect and untouched. The only thing disrupting the even picture was the lamp screwed on the centre. He couldn't tell whether it had been placed in the exact middle, but it did appear that way. Usually, he liked having things in perfect order, but he still found that asymmetry would be more exciting than this, because then at least he'd have something to complain about. Like this, the ceiling, just like everything else, was a bore. </p><p>It was safe to say that this lockdown was taking a toll on him. Sure, there were still things he had to do. Ever since university had closed, he actually somehow had more work to do than before. His professors were apparently losing their minds, just like the students. They gave their students extra much to do, more assignments, more readings, more everything. </p><p>It was just to help them understand the material and to check whether they actually worked with it, they had said. Yeosang thought it was bullshit. Couldn't they just give them a normal workload? Or just let them pass? He pouted at the offensively perfect ceiling. He couldn't believe that the world was in the middle of a pandemic and he still had to worry about his next deadline.</p><p>When his body began feeling stiff due to the hard floor he was lying on, he sat up with a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. He had actually planned on getting a haircut soon. It had grown pretty long, longer than he was used to. But it's not like he'd be able to go out and have someone cut his hair any time soon, so he was trying to get used to it. Maybe he'd start tying it into a neat little ponytail if it started annoying him for real. </p><p>Yeosang stood up slowly and stretched languidly, joints cracking like his bones had become rusty. They might as well be. He hadn't really moved in four days. Four days ago, he mused. He had gone grocery shopping, buying enough food to last him an entire week. Going outside is something that should be avoided to everyone's best abilities, the government representatives had said. People should only go outside for work, and to do necessary things, like grocery shopping. God, Yeosang was about to go insane.</p><p>He could go outside, right? The backyard of the dorm building he lived in was pretty disclosed, the garden small yet lovely. Not many people went there, especially now that most students had gone home to stay with their families. The dorm was scarily empty. Yeosang didn't really see anyone else anymore when he went to the kitchen shared by the entire floor to cook. </p><p>Usually there was at least one other person making lunch, but not anymore. It's not like Yeosang really minded, though. He didn't have any friends at the dorm, just a couple of people he exchanged a few polite words with here and there. So now he usually plugged earphones into his ears whenever he had to cook and had little dance parties in the empty kitchen while he waited for the his food to cook—unfortunately, his food ended up burning more often than he'd like to admit.</p><p>Once Yeosang finally felt like he wasn't stiff as a board anymore, he opened the door of his closet, taking an old blanket he only used outside off the top shelf and grabbed the book he had started reading recently. Then, Yeosang put on his shoes and left his room, locking the door behind him and keeping the keys in his hand for the time being. He used them to press the buttons in the elevator before he finally slid them into the pocket of his sweatpants. </p><p>Yeosang pushed the door to the backyard open with his elbow and was immediately greeted with fresh air. Sure, he also got plenty fresh air in his room whenever he opened the window, but being outside and actually feeling the wind around himself was entirely different and way better. Stepping further into the garden felt like a fever dream. Had the flowers and bushes already blossomed before social distancing had become a thing? He felt as if he was walking into a whole different world. </p><p>When Yeosang found a nice spot in the grass that seemed not to house too many bugs—he couldn't stand those—he spread the blanket on the ground and unceremoniously plopped down. He allowed himself to simply sit there for a moment to enjoy the feeling of sunshine on his skin and the sounds of nature. There was a rook cawing somewhere in one of the handful of trees surrounding him and the bushes appeared to be whispering when the breeze brushed through them. He took a deep breath before he lay down, opening his book and holding it up above his face to shield his eyes from the sun. </p><p>Yeosang spent some time reading. He didn't know how long exactly, he hadn't brought his phone and he wasn't really the type to wear a watch. It's not like it mattered, anyway. The only thing that made him tear his eyes away from the page he was currently on was the sound of someone approaching. Curiously, Yeosang peeked beneath his book that was blocking his view. </p><p>A guy sat down on the bench standing a couple metres away, putting his legs upon the wood to stretch them out. He was facing Yeosang and—oh. He was looking at Yeosang, who was still awkwardly peeking at the newcomer. Quickly, he covered his face with the book again, willing his blood pressure to go down. Leave it to him to do embarrassing shit in front of the only other person he had seen in literal days. Good going, Yeosang.</p><p>"That's a good book," a voice suddenly called out to him. </p><p>Slowly, Yeosang lowered the book and cautiously looked at the guy sitting on the bench with his arms propped up on the back of it, chin resting on the back of his hands. He was looking directly at Yeosang with big eyes. Wait. Yeosang recognized him. He actually lived on the same floor as Yeosang, he realized. Yes, he had seen him in the kitchen while he had made a late midnight snack at 2 in the morning. Finals week was pure madness. </p><p>Under normal circumstances, it would be a miracle that he could even remember the guy, but he had stood out to him for two reasons. First of all, because he had never seen him before and strange faces in familiar places always kind of stood out. Secondly, he was very handsome. Those kinds of faces also stood out to Yeosang.</p><p>He sat up, still holding the open book in his hands. "Yeah? I also like it, so far." </p><p>Now the nameless stranger was smiling at Yeosang. "It's actually one of my favourites. I love that kind of humour."</p><p>"Me too," Yeosang perked up. He put his bookmark, handmade by his mother—she enjoyed crafting and was always trying something new—between the pages and closed it, looking at the cover of the paperback that read <i>Good Omens</i> in shiny gold letters. "The way the characters interact is hilarious. Especially Crowley and Aziraphale, those two are my favourites."</p><p>The other boy hummed in response. "Their dynamic is to die for." Yeosang was surprised by his passionate take, but he could relate to the feeling.</p><p>Yeosang didn't really know what to say to that, so they were both quiet for a while. "Sorry for, uhm, you know. Staring at you earlier like some creep," he said because this was actually bothering him and he knew he'd keep thinking about this if he didn't address it somehow. Most awkward encounters somehow ended up keeping him awake at night. He wanted to avoid that.</p><p>"It's fine, don't worry about it," the boy said, genuinely sounding like he didn't mind the weird attention he had received earlier. "It's been kind of hard not to stare at people as of late. I get it."</p><p>Yeosang sighed in relief. "That's good." After a little pause he added, "I'm actually glad I'm not alone with this feeling. I thought I was the only one losing their marbles."</p><p>The boy on the bench snorted and when he released a laugh, his hand came up to cover the lower half of his face while his nose scrunched up and his eyes squeezed closed. Well, that was an adorable sight. Once he had regained his countenance, he replied, "No, no, you're definitely not alone. This is more relatable than I'd like to admit. Just <i>seeing</i> another person out in the open feels surreal. Speaking to you feels like I'm hallucinating."</p><p>Now it was Yeosang's turn to laugh. He was well aware that his conversation partner was exaggerating, but Yeosang could certainly relate. Being alone all the time actually made him go through phases in which he was almost sure he was beginning to go insane. He had even started writing in his diary again to make sense of his thoughts and get it all out. "Well, maybe this is a Fata Morgana," he joked.</p><p>"And if it was a Fata Morgana," the young man said, gesturing around the miniscule garden, "I would hallucinate <i>this</i>?" </p><p>Yeosang shrugged, "Well, you never know. After all this backyard is better than, let's say, a claustrophobia-inducing dorm room." </p><p>The stranger ran a hand through his hair, revealing his forehead and making his hair stick up funnily. Yeosang's eyes followed the movement before they settled on the guy's face again. His eyes appeared to be more intense than before. "You're right, it's way better. Especially if the garden comes with a nice boy I can talk to."</p><p>Yeosang could feel a light blush creeping up on his cheeks. He hoped it wouldn't be too visible, or that it could be played off as a flush from the heat. "And how would you know that?" Yeosang asked, the embarrassment taking an immediate toll on his brain to mouth filter. Perhaps the disconcerting lack of interactions had made him forget how to be a fully socially functional human being. </p><p>"Know what?" the stranger asked with a raised eyebrow and a curious gaze.</p><p>"Uhm," Yeosang mumbled, his previous braveness starting to dissipate. "That I'm nice, I mean. You don't even know my name, so how would you know?"</p><p>The raised eyebrow rose even higher in susprise, before the boy's expression turned back to normal when he came up with a reply. "I'll just say it's intuition. Will you tell me?"</p><p>Now it was Yeosang's turn to be surprised. "If I'm nice?"</p><p>The stranger gave him a wide, boxy smile. "I mean your name."</p><p>"Oh," Yeosang said eloquently. "I'm Yeosang."</p><p>"Yeosang," the man repeated and turned his head, resting his cheek against his arm. He had no business looking so cute, Yeosang thought. "Nice to meet you. I'm Seonghwa."</p><p>"It's nice to meet you too, Seonghwa," Yeosang said, copying the boy. Then, because he couldn't stop being embarrassing, he blurted, "I actually recognize you." </p><p>Seonghwa lifted his head again. "You do?" He sounded confused now and was obviously trying to remember whether he had seen Yeosang before. Yeosang could almost hear the cogs in Seonghwa's head turn.  </p><p>"I think we live on the same floor," Yeosang explained, saving him from wracking his brain for some type of memory about Yeosang. "I saw you in the kitchen, once."</p><p>"Oh," Seonghwa murmured, eyebrows almost disappearing under his bangs. "You also live on the seventh floor? I don't think I remember seeing you."</p><p>"Uhm, yeah. It was like two in the morning in finals week. Crazy times, I wouldn't be surprised if you don't remember anything at all. I also only recognized you because, uh," Yeosang thankfully saved himself from further embarrassment and stopped himself from saying something like <i>because you're striking</i>. He waved his hand in the air uselessly. "You know. Good memory." Yeosang felt triumphant due to curving another possibly awkward situation.</p><p>"Ah, wait." Seonghwa rubbed his chin in thought. Yeosang couldn't help but notice his strong jawline. "Yeah, I remember. But you had black hair, right?"</p><p>Yeosang tucked a long blond strand of hair behind his ear. "That's right. I dyed it not too long ago," he explained. </p><p>"It looks nice," Seonghwa complimented him. </p><p>"Oh," Yeosang said quietly. He was feeling shy all of a sudden. "Thank you."</p><p>Seonghwa stretched his arms above his head and Yeosang could hear his bones crack. He was glad he wasn't the only one who was getting a little rusty. Lowering his arms again, Seonghwa said, "Well, I better head back inside again. I have to finish an essay today."</p><p>"Sure thing. Good luck with your essay," Yeosang replied. </p><p>"Thanks. I'll see you around?" Seonghwa asked, getting up from the bench and smiling at Yeosang hopefully. </p><p>Yeosang smiled back. "Probably." </p><p>Seonghwa waved and Yeosang also raised his hand to bid him goodbye. He watched Seonghwa retreat to the dorm building for a second before he let himself fall onto his back again, closing his eyes and letting the sun paint orange and red dots behind his eyelids. He inhaled deeply. He felt better now. Amazing, what speaking to someone for a couple of minutes could do, even if it was someone he didn't know at all. At this point he would probably enjoy speaking to anyone. </p><p>However, he also hoped to see Seonghwa around.</p><p>Yeosang reached for his book, opening it and starting to read again.</p><p> </p><p>*</p><p> </p><p>The words were blurring together into unruly lines before Yeosang's eyes. What the hell. He blinked once, squeezing his eyes together tightly, repeating the action until he felt like he could see clearly again. Yeosang glanced at the corner of his screen, eyes widening in surprise when he read the time. How had it become so late? It was already past ten. He had been reading articles and taken notes for one of his classes for hours. Considering that he had been staring at his screen for so long, it didn't really surprise him that his eyesight was beginning to say bye-bye. Perhaps he should wear his glasses next time, but he always forgot. He wasn't <i>that</i> myopic, after all. </p><p>Nevertheless, he grabbed his glasses and put them on after turning off his laptop. He figured he shouldn't keep torturing his eyes any longer. After glancing outside his window, he grabbed his skateboard which he was storing beneath his bed because he didn't have any real space for it anywhere else in his miniscule dorm room. </p><p>He left the dorm building, heading straight to the backyard where he put his well-loved board on the ground and started skating along the little concrete path leading through the garden. He was grateful there were lamps that illuminated the pathway, otherwise he would probably ride his board off the path and faceplant into a tree or fall off his board and get real intimate with the concrete. </p><p>Awful to think he'd probably get intimate with concrete before he'd achieve that with another person. It had been way too long since he'd been close to someone. Usually, it didn't really bother him that he had been single for over a year, but sometimes he really did wish he had someone he could hold at night. Someone who would hold <i>him</i> at night. Normally it wouldn't be too hard to ignore this feeling, but ever since he had no distractions—no real life classes, no friends to hang out with, no places to go—he was really faced with his loneliness and now he was struggling with it more than ever. </p><p>He was so immersed in his thoughts and simply riding his skateboard, that he didn't even notice that someone had approached and was watching him curiously. Once his eyes finally fell on Seonghwa, the man started rhythmically shouting, "Go Yeosang, go Yeosang, go, go, go Yeosang." He even went as far as to making ridiculous dance moves to accompany his chant. </p><p>"What's this? My personal cheerleader?" Yeosang asked when he came to a stop close to Seonghwa.  </p><p>"Depends. Is the salary any good?" Seonghwa asked, playing along. </p><p>"Hmm, would you accept being paid in cookies?" Yeosang wanted to know. </p><p>"There's no way I'd say no to such a generous offer," Seonghwa declared seriously. </p><p>The two looked at each other with sober expressions before they started exploding with laughter at the same time. Yeosang didn't know whether it was because he was craving social contact, but he found that speaking to Seonghwa felt extremely easy and natural. It wasn't often that he felt this comfortable speaking to someone new.</p><p>Once they had both caught their breaths, Yeosang asked, "So, what brings you outside this late?" </p><p>"Well, I was trying to sleep, but the sound of someone riding their skateboard kept me awake, so I looked out of the window and was about to shout at you grumpy grandpa style when I recognized you. That's why I came outside," Seonghwa admitted, running a hand through his hair awkwardly.</p><p>"Oh," Yeosang said. "Sorry for keeping you up, then."</p><p>Seonghwa hurriedly corrected himself, "No, no, don't worry, you didn't keep me up! I wouldn't have been able to fall asleep either way." </p><p>Yeosang could only repeat himself. "Oh."</p><p>"How long have you been skateboarding?" Seonghwa changed the topic, eyeing Yeosang, who was still standing on the board with one foot curiously.</p><p>After thinking for a moment, Yeosang replied, "I think I started eight years ago? Or nine? I'm not really sure, but I don't really know any fancy tricks, if that's what you want to know. I'm usually just... riding around and vibing."</p><p>Seonghwa giggled at Yeosang's choice of words. "Well, that's already impressive enough to someone like me. I tried it once when I was a teenager and I fell off embarrassingly fast."</p><p>Grinning, Yeosang explained, "I think that happens to everyone who tries for the first time. Trust me, I got a lot of bloody knees back when I started. If you really want to do it you can't just give up after the first try."</p><p>"You're right. I'm just scared of falling down, as stupid as that sounds," Seonghwa admitted.</p><p>Yeosang shook his head. "That's not stupid at all. Falling down and scraping your knees and elbows or whatever or even breaking your bones isn't a lot of fun. I can attest to that."</p><p>"Hm... Maybe I could try again some time. After all I'm a big boy now," Seonghwa mumbled thoughtfully.</p><p>Yeosang got a hint when it was so obviously laid out in front of him. Seeing nothing wrong with letting the other boy try to ride his skateboard, Yeosang offered, "Maybe you could try now, if you'd like that."</p><p>"I... Are you sure that's okay?" Seonghwa asked, stepping closer, but still keeping his distance from Yeosang. "I haven't been outside in ages and I'm in perfect health, if you want to know," he hurriedly added.</p><p>Oh, let this shit be damned. Perhaps it was because Yeosang was tired as fuck and his brain was fried, but he was sure he couldn't really be held accountable for his actions anymore when he waved Seonghwa's worries off and said, "Same here, man, just come over."</p><p>When Seonghwa was standing closer to Yeosang he noticed that he was a little bit taller than him, but not by much. He also looked a lot more attractive up-close. Not that Yeosang was paying attention to that. Clearing his throat and mentally shaking his thoughts off, he stepped off the skateboard and gestured towards it. "Do you just want to, like, go for it or should I hold your hand or something like that?" Yeosang asked when he saw Seonghwa hesitate.</p><p>Seonghwa looked at him unsurely. "Uhm, I don't think I need to hold your hand, but could you maybe stay close to me?"</p><p>He was looking at Yeosang with such earnest eyes, there was no way he could say no to him. Nodding, he replied, "Of course."</p><p>Seonghwa nodded determinedly and set one foot on the skateboard, looking kind of wiggly and unsure. He kind of reminded Yeosang of a newborn foal trying to stand up on its way too long legs for the very first time. Back at home, there had actually been a horse ranch he sometimes went to in order to pick his little sister up from her horse riding classes. Yeosang could never really relate to her enthusiasm, but even he had to admit that the little foal he had seen there was adorable. That's also the adjective he'd use to describe Seonghwa's attempt at finding his balance as he tentatively pushed himself forward.</p><p>They didn't really get very far very quickly, which was okay because otherwise Yeosang would have had to run to keep up with Seonghwa in order to stay by his side. Every time Seonghwa seemed to lose his balance, Yeosang reached out to steady him—or catch him in case he really did end up falling, but that never happened. </p><p>Once they had gotten halfway down the path, Seonghwa got off the board and gave Yeosang an award-winning smile. Yeosang felt kind of breathless at the sight. The smile was overwhelmingly bright. </p><p>"That was fun," Seonghwa said, appearing to feel shaky yet triumphant at the same time. Yeosang knew the feeling all too well. That's also how he felt when he first started skateboarding. </p><p>"And not bad at all for your second attempt!" Yeosang praised him with a smile of his own. "I didn't even need to catch you like a damsel in distress," he added teasingly.</p><p>Seonghwa shook his head and laughed out loud, covering his mouth until the sound died down. "Maybe you'll get your chance to be my knight in shining armour if we ever try this again," Seonghwa retaliated.</p><p>Before Yeosang could even think of a smart reply or the fact that Seonghwa was implying that maybe he wanted to repeat this, he yawned loudly, just catching himself in time to cover his mouth and hide his yawn behind his hand. </p><p>"Tired?" Seonghwa asked and Yeosang simply nodded in reply, finding that all his energy was gone and he was dead tired. He was ready to fall into his bed and sleep for approximately ten years. Who knew? Maybe he'd be able to go to public places without the fear of catching and spreading a certain virus if he actually slept that long! He most likely wouldn't have to wait that long, though, the rational part of his brain that wasn't completely sleep-deprived reminded him. </p><p>"Okay, come on, let's go inside," Seonghwa said. His voice was really soft and deep. It was calming. Like snow silently falling from the sky and blanketing the world in a thick white layer. Yeosang could probably fall asleep to the sound of his voice.</p><p>Before Yeosang could even think about bending down to pick his skateboard up, Seonghwa reached for it and took it. They made their way back to their building and their floor quietly, but the silence wasn't awkward or uncomfortable. They kept walking along the hallway until Yeosang stopped in front of the door to his room, which he unlocked before taking his skateboard back from Seonghwa. "Thank you," he said out of nowhere, not entirely sure what he was even thanking Seonghwa for. For carrying his board, perhaps. </p><p>"You're welcome," Seonghwa replied nevertheless. As he stepped away, he added, "Don't forget to wash your hands before you pass out." </p><p>Yeosang smiled and replied, "You too." He then watched Seonghwa walk away until he stopped at a door further down the corridor. Almost as if sensing Yeosang's eyes on him, he turned around to look at Yeosang again. His heart did a funny thing at being caught watching, but he decided to play it off by smiling and waving goodbye. Only after Seonghwa had reciprocrated the action did he turn around to actually go to his room. </p><p>After Yeosang had put the skateboard back under his bed and toed his shoes off, he washed his hands, long and careful, up to his wrists. Then, he somehow managed to force his tired body into a comfortable set of pyjamas before he dropped into his bed like a rock being dropped onto the ground—heavy and immobile.</p><p>The last thing Yeosang managed to think about before he drifted off was Seonghwa's smile.</p><p> </p><p>*</p><p> </p><p>Another day, another bore. </p><p>But this time, Yeosang was fighting against the evil clutches of boredom. There was no way this demon was getting to him tonight and dragging him into a bottomless abyss of insanity! </p><p>Yeosang got up from where he was seated, stretching languidly and ignoring the slight pain in his back. He usually never had any back problems, but he guessed sitting inside and lying in bed all day did that to you. He could swear he had aged at least sixty years, both mentally and physically.</p><p>He opened the fridge, taking an old, almost forgotten bottle out. Hazelnut flavoured schnapps, something his foreign roommate had gifted him for Christmas. He had gone home to his family and had been gone for two weeks now. It's not like Yeosang really noticed, anyway. After all, they didn't share the exact same room, they only shared the bathroom and the anteroom that lead to their individual rooms, but sometimes they had short yet pleasant conversations and it was nice knowing that there was someone else. Now there was nobody.</p><p>Anyway, now Yeosang was looking for shot glasses and rummaging around in the cabinet. Where were the god damn glasses? After a while, he decided he had wasted enough time and would just drink from the bottle. He would feel less guilty for getting drunk by himself if he was at least doing it like a civilized person, but whatever. There was nobody who could see, nobody who could judge him, so there was nothing to be ashamed of, either.</p><p>A sudden knock pulled Yeosang out of his mental conversation with himself. He was so surprised by it that he almost dropped the bottle, but he got a grip on himself before something this drastic could happen. Cradling the bottle to his chest, he checked the spyhole. He was surprised to see Seonghwa standing there, but he opened the door nonetheless.</p><p>"Hey," Yeosang greeted, shooting Seonghwa an unsure smile.</p><p>"Hey yourself," Seonghwa replied. Then, he lowered his gaze to where Yeosang was still very  much holding the bottle of liquor like it was a newborn that required to be nursed. "Uhm, are you partying tonight?"</p><p>Yeosang grimaced. What had he said about shamelessly drinking by himself before? Well, that wasn't going to happen anymore. "Uh, just a one man party, I guess." He conveniently forgot to add that it was going to be a pity party.</p><p>"Sounds fun," Seonghwa said with an unreadable expression on his face.</p><p>"Hm," Yeosang replied vaguedly. "So, what did you come here for? Can I help you with anything?" He eyed Seonghwa with big eyes. Today, his hair was parted, revealing his forehead, unlike the other times Yeosang had met him. That was probably a random detail to notice about another person, but whatever.</p><p>"Oh, yeah, actually..." Seonghwa started speaking sheepishly, running a hand through his nicely styled hair. That must be a habit of his, Yeosang realized. "I meant to ask if you perhaps have a spare roll of toilet paper? It's crazy in the grocery stores, but I'm sure you know that yourself. What do these people even need so much toilet paper for?!"</p><p>Yeosang giggled, remembering the awful Facebook meme his mom had sent him a couple days prior and said, "Well, I know why they need so much. It's because hundreds of people shit themselves when one person sneezes."</p><p>Seonghwa cocked his head to the side curiously and Yeosang was already beginning to regret repeating that dumb joke his mom had sent him, but then Seonghwa started grinning. "You know what, that actually sounds quite plausible."</p><p>"So," Yeosang continued. "Toilet paper. Give me a second." Seonghwa nodded and Yeosang went to the bathroom, fishing a roll out of the packaging before he went back to Seonghwa again. "Here you go."</p><p>Gratefully, Seonghwa extended his arm and took the thing people were ready to get into fist fights for. "Thank you, really." He hesitated before he continued speaking, "Is there anything I can do to repay you?"</p><p>Now it was Yeosang's turn to eye Seonghwa curiously. Did he always feel like he needed to give in order to take? Or did he think of Yeosang as a quid pro quo type of person? Wait, now you're getting ahead of yourself, Yeosang scolded himself mentally. Seonghwa was just being polite, there was no reason to analyse his behaviour like some Freud wannabe or to overthink every little thing. But that's all Yeosang has been doing recently, his mind latching onto every miniscule detail in order to have something to do.</p><p>When he realized he should probably say something instead of staring at Seonghwa like he had just grown an extra head, he replied, "No, it's okay."</p><p>Seonghwa nodded slowly and said, "Alright, thank you. I'll, uh—I'll leave, then." Despite his words, he didn't move.</p><p>Oh. Was that hesitation Yeosang sensed? Perhaps Seonghwa wanted to give something back to Yeosang in order to—what? Spend more time with him? Feel like he wasn't alone?</p><p>When Seonghwa finally started to move, turning to walk back to his room, Yeosang blurted, "Wait!"</p><p>Startled, Seonghwa stopped in his tracks, but turned around without a moment of hesitation. "Yes?" he asked. </p><p>"I, uhm—" Yeosang's brain was doing its best to come up with an actual response. Suddenly, he had a brilliant idea. "Do you by chance have shot glasses?"</p><p>Seonghwa gaped at Yeosang in obvious surprise. "Shot glasses?"</p><p>Yeosang vaguely gestured around with his bottle of hard liquor. "For this? I don't have any. We can drink together, if you'd like."</p><p>Suddenly, Yeosang wasn't so sure whether this had been such a brilliant idea, after all. Who the hell invited someone who was basically a stranger to get hammered together? They should probably do something tamer first, like playing a card game. Seonghwa would surely think of Yeosang as weird now.</p><p>To Yeosang's surprise, Seonghwa said, "It's your lucky day. I actually do have shot glasses. I'll just go grab them real quick."</p><p>Yeosang nodded and watched Seonghwa turn on his heel, distancing himself from Yeosang's room with much more determination than previously. </p><p>Huh.</p><p>That's when it hit Yeosang. He had invited a stranger into his room, which, fuck, was it even clean? Yeosang hurriedly put the bottle on his desk and collected the clothes he had worn before showering from his bed, where he had mindlessly thrown them after cleaning himself up. He also made his bed in record time and briefly considered getting in contact with Guinness. </p><p>With a quickly beating heart, he looked around his room. Fortunately, he had mopped the floor and dusted every surface only a day ago. This should be good enough because he certainly wouldn't be able to change much else about the state of his room. Except—he rushed to the window and practically tore it open, hoping that the air in his room wasn't too stifling.</p><p>He should be good now, he figured. A couple seconds later, there was another knock on his door, this time much softer. Yeosang rushed over to let Seonghwa in and gestured towards the inside of his room. "Welcome to my humble abode," he welcomed the man who was now holding two little shot glasses in his hands, noticing that he still sounded a little breathless. </p><p>"Thanks," Seonghwa smiled. "You sound like you're out of breath. Did you do an impromptu workout?"</p><p>Yeosang grimaced. "Of course." He flexed his arms. "Do you think these babies keep themselves in shape? This requires hard work." </p><p>That actually got a laugh out of Seonghwa. "Whatever you say, you muscle-bound hunk."</p><p>Yeosang pretended to be offended, brought his hand up to his chest and gasped affrontedly. "Don't you believe me?!" When Seonghwa simply raised his eyebrow bemusedly, he gave up his little act and admitted, "I tried to clean up my room and I'm happy to announce that I have successfully set a new world record."</p><p>"Oh? Too bad nobody was there to record it, now you don't have any proof," Seonghwa played along, pulling a tragically unbelievable sad face.</p><p>"Good thing I have something to cheer us up, then," Yeosang grinned and gestured towards the bottle standing on his desk.</p><p>Seonghwa put the glasses next to the bottle and apologized, "Sorry they're wet, I rinsed them because they were pretty dusty." </p><p>Yeosang waved the other's concerns off and said, "It's alright, they'll get wet now, anyway."</p><p>Then, Yeosang opened the bottle of schnaps and filled the shot glasses, handing Seonghwa one afterwards and taking the other one himself. "To unproven world records," he announced and raised his glass. </p><p>Seonghwa suggested, "To toilet paper." They clinked their glasses before both of them downed their contents. </p><p>Yeosang laughed at the face Seonghwa made, despite also being a victim of the mean burn in his throat. </p><p>"What the fuck," Seonghwa blurted. "This is poison."</p><p>Still giggling, but now hiding it behind his hand, Yeosang defended his drink, "This isn't poison, it's just really strong."</p><p>"How is that legal?" Seonghwa pouted while somehow still doing funny things with his face. </p><p>"Aw, come on, let's sit down, before the alcohol gets to you," Yeosang teased and plopped down on the floor in front of his bed. Seonghwa followed shortly after and sat down across from Yeosang, putting his glass down between them to quietly ask for a refill. Yeosang complied and poured more liquor into the shot glasses. This time, they threw it back quietly and Seonghwa didn't even grimace as violently as before.</p><p>"So, do you have anything fun we could do?" Seonghwa asked, setting the glass down on the floor again. </p><p>Yeosang thought about it for a second before he got up and moved forward on his fours, to the shelves Seonghwa was sitting in front of. He pulled a little orange box out and moved back to his original position, handing the box to Seonghwa. "Story cubes?" Seonghwa asked, clearly surprised. Yeosang didn't know what Seonghwa had expected, but apparently it hadn't been that.</p><p>"I—yeah. They're fun, trust me." Yeosang told Seonghwa, who had opened the box and took a look at the cubes. Wow. Those were beautiful hands, Yeosang thought. He had never really thought of hands as aesthetically pleasing, but Seonghwa's definitely were, and the fact that his fingernails were short and filed into a round shape just added to the overall pleasant appearence. Yeosang cleared his throat and offered, "I can start if you want."</p><p>Seonghwa nodded, "Sure." He handed Yeosang the box.</p><p>Yeosang let the cubes fall into the palm of his hand and set the box aside, letting the dice roll onto the ground. A flower, a magnifying glass, an airplane, a book, a tower, a shooting star, a lightbulb, a sheep, and a weighing scale. Huh. Yeosang took a moment to think about it, bringing the elements into some type of order in his head. </p><p>"Okay, so," Yeosang said cheerily once he had come up with something. "Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived in a tower, isolated from the rest of the world. I know what you're thinking, but her name was definitely not Rapunzel. Anyway, there wasn't much she could do in that tower, so she usually spent most her time reading books of people who experienced great adventures. You might wonder how she got all the books, because, you know, she lived in isolation, but she had access to the internet and could order stuff online."</p><p>"One night, she couldn't sleep, so she stood by the window and looked at the nightsky. Suddenly, she saw a shooting star, which was actually an airplane, but that's not important. That's when she had an idea in the lightbulb lighting up type of way. She could go on an adventure, just like the heroes in her books!" </p><p>"After carefully weighing her options, she decided she would just do it. She ended up leaving the tower with her magnifying glass in her hand. She used it to look around, trying to find a means of transportation. In the distance, there was a sheep that was gnawing on some flowers. In the end, she rode into the sunset on her sheep, ready to discover the outside world."</p><p>When Yeosang was done with his story, the room was quiet for a while. Then Seonghwa said, "Damn, there's a lot of projection in this."</p><p>Yeosang simply gave Seonghwa a lopsided smile and pushed the dice in Seonghwa's direction. "Your turn. Do you want another drink first?"</p><p>"Yeah, that would be nice," Seonghwa admitted and so they ended up downing another shot. This time, Seonghwa managed to keep a straight face, but he did end up complaining again, "Why the fuck can I feel it burning in my <i>nose</i>?" </p><p>Yeosang laughed at Seonghwa's dramatic exaggeration. "I haven't really gotten over the taste either, if it's any consolation."</p><p>"Actually, yeah. You look like you can totally handle this," Seonghwa replied.  </p><p>"Can I be honest with you?" Yeosang wanted to know.</p><p>Seonghwa gave him a curious look. "Of course."</p><p>"I'm already starting to feel a little drunk." </p><p>For a second, Seonghwa simply gaped at Yeosang as if his mind had momentarily gone offline. Then, he admitted, "Me too! I usually don't drink a lot and this is... way stronger than what I'm used to."</p><p>Finally, Seonghwa reached for the cubes and let them fall to the floor. They continued coming up with funny and not so funny stories, gradually getting more drunk as the night progressed. At some point, both of them had started leaning back, Yeosang against his bed and Seonghwa against the shelf, which couldn't have been all that comfortable. </p><p>Yeosang forced himself to get up when he noticed that Seonghwa's eyes had been closed for a while. Funny, how everything seemed to move on its own. Yeosang felt really hot, especially in his face, despite the window still being open. "Come on," he muttered, his tongue feeling oddly heavy. He was also sleepy. "You should go to bed. Get up," Yeosang slurred and reached for one of Seonghwa's hands, ignoring that it took him three attempts to finally grab it. </p><p>Seonghwa's eyes flew open and he looked at Yeosang questioningly. "You, bed, now," Yeosang explained, not finding the strength to repeat this with full sentences. </p><p>"But my bed... my bed's soo far away," Seonghwa pouted as his fingers loosely wrapped around Yeosang's own. </p><p>Yeosang tried to pull Seonghwa up, but didn't succeed. Seonghwa was heavy and unmoving like a sack of flour. "Iss gon' stay that way if you don't help me here," Yeosang deadpanned. </p><p>With a look of absolute concentration on his face, Seonghwa pushed himself off the ground and got up, wobbling precariously. Fortunately, Yeosang was still holding his hand, which meant that Seonghwa at least wouldn't be the only one falling on his ass should he lose his balance.</p><p>"Your bed is right here," Seonghwa said, in awe.</p><p>Yeosang looked to his bed like he was just seeing it for the first time. "It is," he agreed.</p><p>"Yeosang," Seonghwa muttered. When Yeosang finally averted his gaze from his bed to look at Seonghwa, he saw a startling clarity in his big eyes. "I don't wanna be alone."</p><p>"Oh," Yeosang said eloquently. "Oh," he repeated, just as eloquently as before, when his brain finally caught up with the meaning behind Seonghwa's words. Yeosang was so drunk he wasn't really capable of complex thinking anymore, but he did remember that feeling of loneliness gnawing away at him. "Then stay." </p><p>"Yeah?" Seonghwa asked.</p><p>"Yeah," Yeosang confirmed confidently and tugged Seonghwa towards his bed, sitting him down on the edge. He blinked the dizziness he suddenly felt away. Getting up had definitely involved too much movement. "Scoot," Yeosang told Seonghwa, who was just looking at Yeosang wordlessly. </p><p>When Seonghwa finally moved, lying down close to the wall, Yeosang turned off the light and climbed into the bed as well, pulling the blanket over them. To Yeosang's surprise, Seonghwa curled up against his side. He didn't question it, he simply closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of another human being next to him.</p><p> </p><p>*</p><p> </p><p>"So, what exactly do you study?" Seonghwa asked, running the tip of his finger along the books in Yeosang's bookshelf.  Mostly novels Yeosang liked to read in his free time and some coursebooks that looked more or less used.</p><p>"English and American studies." When Seonghwa looked away from the bookshelf to face Yeosang instead, Yeosang started feeling nervous. "I know, it's a bit basic, but I'm genuinely interested in it."</p><p>"No, that's not basic at all," Seonghwa assured Yeosang. "You should always follow your dreams no matter what others think of them."</p><p>"That sounds like it could be straight out of a cringy drama," Yeosang joked.</p><p>Seonghwa giggled and turned to face the shelf again. "It's true, though, isn't it?"</p><p>Yeosang hummed in agreement. "What about you? Are you following your dreams?"</p><p>Speaking to Seonghwa didn't feel like they had known each other for years. There was still a lot they could learn about each other. It was easy, though. Seonghwa was so open and good at expressing his thoughts without seeming forcedly extroverted or over-the-top. It seemed like he was just himself and that kind of attitude was contagious. His presence was comfortable and relaxing, which made it really easy for Yeosang to converse with him without being scared of making a fool of himself when he said something awkward.</p><p>"I do," Seonghwa said and pulled a baby blue, leather-bound notebook out of the shelf. It had identations in the shape of flowers on the cover. "I study architecture."</p><p>Yeosang made a noise of surprise. "Wow, that's amazing! Isn't that super hard, though?"</p><p>Shrugging, Seonghwa admitted, "Sometimes, but I don't think there's anything one could study that's not hard from time to time. This is a nice notebook, by the way." He ran his elegant fingers over it. "Can I take a look? Or is it like a diary or something?" Seonghwa asked. </p><p>"Uh, no," Yeosang said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly because he was feeling shy all of a sudden. "Sometimes I write poetry." In a burst of confidence, Yeosang added, "You can look at it, if you want. Just... keep in mind that some of these are quite deep and personal. You shouldn't read them if that makes you uncomfortable."</p><p>Seonghwa looked at Yeosang with surprise written all over his stupidly handsome features. He asked, "If it makes <i>me</i> uncomfortable? Shouldn't I be the one asking that question?"</p><p>Shaking his head, Yeosang explained, "No, uhm, I'm not really self-conscious of my poetry or the experiences that inspired it. I've actually participated in some poetry slams before."</p><p>"Really? Wow, I didn't expect that," Seonghwa said, looking at Yeosang in awe. He looked like a little child meeting Santa at the mall, excited and innocent with sparkly eyes. Yeosang found the sight absolutely endearing.</p><p>"Believe it or not, I actually started enjoying those events. The first time was really awkward, but then—it just... felt good to be heard, I guess. So I continued going," Yeosang said. </p><p>Seonghwa hummed. "I should come see you at one of those. You know, in the future, when this is over."</p><p>Yeosang felt a blush creeping up on his face, but he tried to play it off by playfully slapping Seonghwa's arm. "You shouldn't make any promises yet. What if you don't even like my work?" Yeosang teased.</p><p>"I guess there's only one way to find out." Seonghwa carefully opened the notebook, almost as if it was as precious to him as it was to Yeosang. Actually, his mom had given it to him on his birthday. She had bought it during one of her business trips abroad because it had reminded her of her son. Yeosang appreciated those gifts most. He wasn't very materialistic, but it made him happy when something reminded people of him. He liked being thought of.</p><p>For a while, Yeosang and Seonghwa just sat on the floor, quietly, side by side. Yeosang let his eyes trail over the pages Seonghwa read, taking in his narrow handwriting, the little and not so little changes he had made to the poems, the little doodles surrounding them. For him it had always been cathartic to give his feelings an artistic form. </p><p>Then, he looked at Seonghwa's face. It was expressionless apart from the look of concentration on it, and even though it must have been quite obvious to him that Yeosang was watching him, he didn't look up once. Yeosang just waited patiently, until Seonghwa turned to face him, closing the notebook after he had read several poems. </p><p>"Well, I don't think I was making promises I can't keep. Your poetry seems very thoughtful and intriguing." Seonghwa told Yeosang.</p><p>"Thoughtful and intriguing?" Yeosang repeated back at him, prompting Seonghwa to elaborate.</p><p>"Well, some of this is pretty dark. The thing about your dad, for example, that kind of gave me shivers. But the way you use words also gives me shivers—the good ones, you know?" Seonghwa tried to explain. </p><p>Yeosang had a pretty good idea of what Seonghwa meant. That was exactly what Yeosang had tried to achieve. He was glad his work could elicit that kind of feeling. "So, do you think it's good?" he asked nonetheless.</p><p>"Oh man, I didn't want to say it quite so banally after experiencing pure art in the form of words, but yeah, I find it really good."</p><p>Yeosang rewarded Seonghwa with a blinding smile. "Is that so? Well, then I can't wait to drag you to a poetry slam."</p><p>Seonghwa laughed and put the notebook back in its rightful place. "I can't wait." A short silence settled between them before Seonghwa cleared his throat and said, "Well, now that you've showed me yours, I think it's just fair to show you mine."</p><p>Now that was an interesting turn of events. "You also write?"</p><p>"No, uh, but I draw. On some rare occations I also paint. It's nothing deep, though, I usually just draw what I see."</p><p>It was Yeosang's turn to stare like a kid meeting Santa. "No way! And you'll show me?" Yeosang was basically vibrating at the speed of sound at this point. He hadn't expected this, so it was definitely a pleasant surprise.</p><p>Seonghwa giggled at Yeosang's behaviour and got up, dusting his butt that was certainly not dirty because Yeosang mopped the floor regularly, thank you very much. Seonghwa held a hand out to help Yeosang up from the ground and suggested, "Come on, let's go to my room!"  </p><p>Yeosang let himself be pulled up and out of his room. On their short trek to Seonghwa's room, their hands stayed interlocked. It was almost as if Seonghwa didn't even notice he was still holding on to Yeosang's hand, and Yeosang didn't particularly mind, so he didn't try to retract his hand either.</p><p>Something had changed ever since the night they got drunk and ended up sharing a bed. They had crossed the point of being mere acquaintances. They were not scared of invading each other's personal space anymore, batting at each other playfully and leaning in when one of them wanted to show the other something funny on their phone. </p><p>It had certainly been weird to wake up next to Seonghwa. Confusing, too, considering Yeosang had been hungover and had taken him several moments to remember what had happened the previous night. So, yes, it had been weird, but it hadn't been <i>bad</i>. If Yeosang was going to be honest, it had actually been incredibly nice to wake up next to someone else. It made Yeosang feel less lonely and apart from that, Seonghwa looked cute when he slept, face relaxed, arm thrown over Yeosang's middle, his hand loosely fisting the material of Yeosang's shirt. </p><p>When they arrived at Seonghwa's room, Yeosang looked around curiously. It was his first time here. Before today, they had only met in the backyard and in Yeosang's room. Yeosang glanced at Seonghwa's book shelf which was filled with thick books about architecture and some novels, his pinboard which was decorated with pictures that showed Seonghwa with other people, most likely friends and family, and a little rainbow flag pinned in the corner. Yeosang smiled upon seeing it. </p><p>There was an unfinished drawing on Seonghwa's desk. Upon taking a closer look, he realized that it must be an unfinished design Seonghwa was working on. "Now, I don't know anything about architecture, but this looks amazing," Yeosang said, stunned.</p><p>Seonghwa was now standing next to Yesoang. "Ah, thank you. It's actually kind of killing me."</p><p>Regarding the sharp lines, meticulous angles and all the detail, Yeosang said, "I think I can see why."</p><p>Humming, Seonghwa pulled a sketch-pad. "I'll show it to you when it's done. For now, you can look at these." </p><p>Seonghwa handed the pad to Yeosang, who opened it curiously. The pages showed studies of flowers, leaves, sometimes even faces. Some of them seemed to be quick sketches and others appeared to have taken longer to finish, depicting a lot of detail and contrast. The shading made everything look incredibly realistic. It was clear that a lot of work had gone into the drawings. Seonghwa was obviously gifted. </p><p>Yeosang looked up and saw that Seonghwa was looking at him, much like Yeosang had been looking at Seonghwa while he had read Yeosang's poems. Yeosang was pretty sure he looked dumbstruck when he said, "Those are all so pretty! You're really talented."</p><p>"Thank you," Seonghwa replied, the colour of his cheeks deepening. Was he seriously blushing because Yeosang had complimented him? God, he was adorable.</p><p>"When did you start drawing?" Yeosang asked curiously, continuing to flip through the pages.</p><p>"I started when I was pretty young, in elementary school. Back then I dreamed of becoming a famous painter. Now I have a more realistic goal, though," Seonghwa smiled softly and Yeosang couldn't help but look at the way his lips stretched and exposed a sliver of perfect, pearly white teeth. He was looking at Yeosang in a way that made Yeosang unsure of what that goal exactly was.</p><p>Yeosang set the sketch-pad down on Seonghwa's desk, willing his eyes away from Seonghwa's face. "Well, I'm glad you do what you like. It's just like someone once told me. You should always follow your dreams." Yeosang turned to look at Seonghwa again, but something caught his eye and distracted him. "Is that a make-up bag?"</p><p>"Uhm," Seonghwa said, looking slightly confused at the sudden change of topic. "Yeah. Do you like make-up?"</p><p>"Ah, I do. I've just never really gotten into it? The most I can do is brows and on a good day some basic eyeshadow." Yeosang admitted. "What about you, are you any good?"</p><p>Grinning, Seonghwa offered, "Let me do your make-up and you'll see?" </p><p>"Well, it's not like I have anything better to do, so I guess I'll give you a chance," Yeosang teased.</p><p>"Sit down," Seonghwa told Yeosang, gesturing towards the floor. </p><p>Yeosang laughed. When he saw Seonghwa's confused expression, he explained, "It just seems that the floor is becoming our favourite place to stay."</p><p>"I mean, I'd offer the bed, but I don't want to get my sheets covered in glitter or anything like that."</p><p>"That was no criticism, it was just an observation," Yeosang said and plopped down on the floor, cross-legged. With a cheeky smile, he asked, "So, are you gonna make me all pretty now or what?"</p><p>Seonghwa grabbed the bag and a cup filled with make-up brushes and sat down in front of Yeosang, opening the bag and pulling some things out of it. "I'm not going to put any foundation on your face because your skin is deadass flawless," Seonghwa said, checking out Yeosang's face like he was in awe.</p><p>"Uh, thanks? Why do you say that like your face is any different?" Yeosang wanted to know.</p><p>Seonghwa huffed a quiet laugh. "I'm not jealous, I'm merely appreciating your beautiful bare face." </p><p>Yeosang sure as hell hoped that Seonghwa wouldn't ask why Yeosang was suddenly blushing madly. Fortunately, he didn't say anything, though, he simply grabbed his concealer and put some on the back of his hand. Then, he took a synthetic brush, dipping it into the concealer and working the product into the back of his hand before he asked Yeosang to look up. Seonghwa's brush strokes and stippling motions were gentle. Yeosang wondered how many people's make-up Seonghwa had done. His motions were practiced despite the fact that applying make-up to someone else was very different from doing one's own make up. </p><p>"Okay, now close your eyes, I'm also going to put some concealer on your eyelids as a base for the eyeshadow," Seonghwa told Yeosang, who followed the directions immediately.</p><p>"You speak like a professional," Yeosang commented while he felt the wet substance being applied to his lids. </p><p>"I actually took a gap year after high school to go to a cosmetology school," Seonghwa admitted.</p><p>Yeosang wished he could let his surprise show on his face right now, but he feared if he suddenly widely opened his eyes to gape like a fish out of water Seonghwa might accidentally stab his eyeball with the bristles of the brush. "That's so cool! So, can I ask why you decided to study instead of just working as a make-up artist?"</p><p>Yeosang could hear something being opened and then he felt a different brush working on his eyelid before Seonghwa replied, "I just wanted to have more options, you know?"</p><p>"Sounds logical. I wish I had concrete plans for the future. Job-wise, I mean. Right now I'm just kind of trying to survive university."</p><p>"That's not so bad, either. There's still enough time for you to figure out what exactly you want to do, and nothing speaks against trying several things out to see what works best. You don't have to have your whole life planned out. We all know now that you can't calculate everything, anyway."</p><p>Yeosang grimaced, trying not to move the upper part of his face too much. He didn't want to sabotage Seonghwa's work, after all. "Yeah, you're right. Who knows, maybe the zombie apocalypse is next," he joked. </p><p>"Oh God, please, no. I wouldn't want to go through that with you. You seem like the type of person who would hide a zombie bite." Seonghwa replied, still working his magic on Yeosang's eyes. </p><p>"Who said we'd go through it together? I'm sure we could both go home to our families before that happens," Yeosang mused.</p><p>There was a little gasp. "And where's the fun in that?" Seonghwa wanted to know. </p><p>"Well, I feel honoured that you'd want to experience that with me, I guess. I do hope you have some useful survival skills, though, otherwise we're dead within one day."</p><p>Seonghwa laughed and said, "Okay, I'll make sure to learn something like making a fire so that we can roast bugs and stuff like that. Can you open your eyes and look up now?"</p><p>Yeosang followed Seonghwa's orders and replied, "Alright, then I'm going to learn all about plants. We have to know which ones are edible and which ones would poison us."</p><p>"Sounds like a good plan," Seonghwa said while he worked on Yeosang's lower lash line. He continued to work in silence for a while before he told Yeosang to look straight ahead, nodding like he was satisfied with the result. </p><p>"Okay, you're done," Seonghwa said, leaning back and handing Yeosang a pocket mirror. </p><p>Curiously, Yeosang took the mirror and looked at himself. "Wow," he said eloquently. Considering that he was good at writing words he sure as hell had a way with them while speaking. However, his speechlessness was justified. He had never looked this dolled up before. </p><p>"Do you like it?" Seonghwa asked, clearly interested in hearing Yeosang's opinion. He then reached for a tissue from the box on his nightstand and wiped the exess product off the back of his hand.</p><p>"Yeah," Yeosang assured him while he regarded his smoky eyes, black smudged close to his lash line, blended out with different shades of brown. There was matt dark eyeshadow on the outer portion of Yeosang's lower lash line, gold sparkles glittering on the inner portion. The look was simple yet elegant and Yeosang definitely liked it. Half-jokingly, half-seriously, Yeosang added, "I don't think I've ever looked this good before."</p><p>Chuckling, Seonghwa replied, "Come on, you look just as good without any make-up!"</p><p>Yeosang shrugged. "Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm impressed." He put the mirror down and looked at Seonghwa when he didn't say anything. Seonghwa was staring at Yeosang. It almost looked as if he was spaced out and staring <i>through</i> Yeosang. "You okay there?" Yeosang asked.</p><p>That seemed to make him snap out of it. "Uh, yeah. I was just... thinking about something. What's your opinion on lip gloss?" </p><p>"Go for it," Yeosang replied easily.  </p><p>Seonghwa looked excited as he rummaged around in his make-up bag, pulling out a pale pink gloss. He also put that on the back of his hand, taking a small lip brush to apply it. Seonghwa steadied his hand on Yeosang's chin before he began to brush the product onto his lips with a look of concentration on his face. The sweet scent of artificial strawberries rose to Yeosang's nose. Yeosang would be a liar if he claimed that the way Seonghwa was focussing on his lips, his own tongue sticking out in concentration, didn't make him feel some type of way. </p><p>The movement of Seonghwa's hand slowed and he lowered the brush, but he was still looking at Yeosang's lips and he was suddenly coming closer. Yeosang didn't move away, he simply dropped his gaze and also took the freedom to look at Seonghwa's lips. Up close, they looked even better than from a respectful distance. Full and soft. He thought they would look even better if they were covered by Yeosang's own lips.</p><p>"Yeosang," Seonghwa started. "Can I kiss you?"</p><p>Yeosang kind of felt like an entranced damsel in one of those tacky romance movies when he breathed an enamoured "yes", but he stopped dwelling on the thought when he felt Seonghwa's lips on his mouth. </p><p>After a quick peck, Seonghwa pulled away, giving Yeosang a look that told Yeosang he was just as entranced. Then, Seonghwa cupped Yeosang's cheek with one hand and when Seonghwa's lips landed on his again, Yeosang covered Seonghwa's hand with his own, squeezing lightly before he let his hand trail over Seonghwa's wrist, only letting it stop once it was on Seonghwa's biceps. </p><p>They kissed slow and sweet, just letting their lips slide against each other, both of them relishing in the feeling. Yeosang didn't know how much time they spent kissing on the floor. Actually, he didn't plan on stopping anytime soon, but he did admit that sitting like this was becoming kind of uncomfortable. </p><p>Yeosang pulled away. He secretly enjoyed the way Seonghwa chased his lips. Smiling, Yeosang asked, "Don't worry, we'll continue, but can we kiss on the bed instead?"</p><p>"Of course," Seonghwa said, sounding kind of breathless. His lips looked shiny from the gloss on Yeosang's lips. He was so beautiful. </p><p>Seonghwa got up, holding a hand out for Yeosang to take. He lay down on his bed, pulling Yeosang down next to him. Both of them were on their sides now, facing each other. This time, Yeosang initiated another kiss, slinging an arm around Seonghwa's waist. Seonghwa rested his hand on Yeosang's chest, loosely gripping the fabric of his t-shirt between his fingers like he had done while sleeping next to Yeosang. It was nice to feel the warmth of his hand through the fabric.</p><p>Whenever they pulled away for a short break, they just looked at each other with a mix of disbelief and  heart eyes until one of them moved to kiss the other again. After a while, Seonghwa broke their little circle when he spoke during one of those breaks. "I didn't know how much I wanted that until now," he admitted with rosy cheeks and a tiny smile tugging on the corners of his mouth.</p><p>Yeosang laughed softly and said, "I think I didn't realize either." He had become so accustomed to being lonely and alone that being this close to someone else almost made him feel dizzy. It was as if the endorphins flowing through his body were making him high. It had been so long since he had kissed someone. Especially someone he felt as drawn to as Seonghwa. </p><p>They hadn't known each other for a very long time, but Yeosang figured their closeness, which stemmed from the fact that they were both university students who were more or less quarantined at the same dorm building, connected them in a way that wouldn't have been possible before. Even though they had merely met by chance, they were able to relate to one another and converse freely, which was something Yeosang appreciated just as much as the newfound attraction they apparently felt towards each other.</p><p>"Can we kiss again?" Yeosang asked, his tone somewhere between hopeful and heavy.</p><p>Seonghwa's voice was just above a whisper when he agreed, "Yeah."</p><p>This time, Yeosang moved his hand so that it was cupping Seonghwa's jaw, lightly stroking over the skin with his fingers before letting them rest. He saw the way Seonghwa's eyes slowly fell closed when he leaned in again, his plush, glistening lips parting slightly in anticipation. When he finally pressed his mouth to Seonghwa's again it was nothing more than a feathery touch before he poked his tongue out, lightly running it over Seonghwa's bottom lip.</p><p>Seonghwa took a sharp breath of surprise, but opened his mouth to let Yeosang tentatively push his tongue inside nonetheless. He let it slide across Seonghwa's tongue, languid, just testing the waters. Noting that Seonghwa was very much accepting and reciprocating Yeosang's advances by playfully tangling their tongues together, Yeosang started feeling a little bolder and started exploring Seonghwa's mouth with more confidence. He softly ran his tongue over the roof of Seonghwa's mouth before rubbing it across his alveolar ridge.</p><p>Seonghwa's reaction was instantaneous. He made a little sound of pleasure that was stifled by Yeosang's mouth and pressed his lips harder against Yeosang's, his fingers curling where they were still resting on Yeosang's chest. In the process, he grazed Yeosang's nipple, which was perking up at the accidental attention and Yeosang couldn't stop himself from releasing a groan of his own. Something told him that it wasn't so much of an accident when it happened again, Seonghwa's finger brushing over it slower and more deliberately. </p><p>Yeosang subtly arched into Seonghwa's touch, pressing their bodies closer together, which lead him to two realizations. One, he was hard, almost embarrassingly so, just from kissing Seonghwa. Two, Seonghwa seemed to be in a bit of a predicament himself if the the thing brushing against Yeosang's thigh was what he thought it was. </p><p>Before Yeosang could start overthinking the situation with questions such as <i>what the fuck is happening</i> he was distracted by the hand leaving his nipple and sliding down his chest instead. When Seonghwa's hand stopped at the seam of his shirt, he held onto the fabric there instead. Yeosang's heart was beating in anticipation when Seonghwa broke their kiss.</p><p>"Can I?" he asked, not really specifying what he meant verbally, but lightly tugging at Yeosang's shirt to signify his intentions. </p><p>Yeosang wasn't exactly inhibited when it came to his body and the thought of having Seonghwa, who he was certainly attracted to in more ways than one, see him or feel him up made him feel hot all over. It was as if he was experiencing an adrenaline rush due to the suddenness of the new development between them. It was a good development and he was more than willing to take this farther. </p><p>"Yes," Yeosang breathed, excited for whatever was going to happen next. </p><p>Contrary to Yeosang's expectations, Seonghwa didn't pull his shirt off yet. He just slowly pushed the fabric up, revealing Yeosang's skin centimetre by centimetre, watching intently. Just feeling Seonghwa's intense gaze on him was enough to make Yeosang's erection throb. He couldn't decide whether he wanted things to speed up or to savour this moment and live in it forever. Since Seonghwa was going so slow he supposed there was no point in entertaining this dilemma.</p><p>Once Seonghwa had pushed the shirt up until it was bunched up just above his nipples and started running his fingertips over the planes of Yeosang's upper body instead, he trembled and shied away from Seonghwa's feathery touch. When he noticed Seonghwa's curious gaze on him, he sheepishly explained, "Sorry, I'm just really ticklish."</p><p>"Good to know," Seonghwa grinned and Yeosang was sure he'd have to deal with unexpected tickle attacks in the future. Before he could lament his future fate any longer, Seonghwa ran his hands over his body again, this time with more pressure to avoid accidentally tickling Yeosang. When Seonghwa rubbed his bare nipple between his thumb and pointer finger, Yeosang moaned quietly. "You're really sensitive, aren't you?" Seonghwa mused. </p><p>Who wouldn't be sensitive after a long break of any sexual activities with another person? He guessed Seonghwa did have a point, though, because he had always on the sensitive side, not just when he was touch deprived. "I guess," Yeosang murmured. </p><p>"Well, aren't you the sweetest boy," Seonghwa said, twisting Yeosang's nipple and effectively drawing another whine from him. </p><p>Yeosang blushed, threw an arm over his face in embarrassment and complained, "You can't just say stuff like that." </p><p>Laughing, Seonghwa removed Yeosang's arm from his face, exposing his cherry red face. "Why not? Are you scared of the truth?"</p><p>"Oh my, please stop," Yeosang whined.</p><p>"Stop what exactly?" Seonghwa asked teasingly, sliding his hand across Yeosang's chest again, this time under the bunched up shirt, to make a point.  </p><p>Yeosang ignored the rhetorical question and connected his mouth with Seonghwa's again, even though he didn't stay there for long, deciding to move on to Seonghwa's neck instead to give him a taste of his own medicine. Yeosang placed a trail of kissed from the corner of Seonghwa's mouth to his jaw and finally to his neck. He payed extra much attention to that area, grazing his teeth and suckling teasingly, but never enough to actually leave any marks. While Yeosang threw his arm over Seonghwa's middle again and let it rest against his clothed back, Seonghwa's hand was still on Yeosang's exposed chest. </p><p>Yeosang made his way all the way up to Seonghwa's ear, taking the lobe between his teeth and tugging lightly. During his ministrations, he listened to Seonghwa's reactions. His heavy breathing and barely noticeable groans were a joy to listen to. With a final flick of the tongue on Seonghwa's ear, he whispered, "Can I take your shirt off?"</p><p>"Sure, go ahead," Seonghwa said, sitting up so that Yeosang could pull his shirt over his head. Yeosang also took off his own shirt in the process. It had been getting annoying. Then, they fell back onto the matress again, french kissing and exploring each other's upper bodies with their hands. Seonghwa had a similar build to Yeosang, lean yet pleasantly toned. Yeosang relished in the feeling of warm skin and muscle beneath his hands, so he let them wander leisurely.</p><p>Feeling daring, Yeosang let his hand go lower, caressing the swell of Seonghwa's ass. Seonghwa pressed forward until their chests touched and, oh, something else definitely also touched when he did that. Yeosang's hand involuntarily tightened and Seonghwa started subtly grinding against Yeosang. </p><p>Suddenly, Seonghwa's lips were gone from Yeosang's, and he brushed some hair out of Yeosang's face because somehow he always had hair in his face ever since he had started growing it out. "Let me take care of you," Seonghwa requested.</p><p>Yeosang nodded. "Yeah." Seonghwa ran his fingers over Yeosang's cheek and then over his arm before he traced Yeosang's happy trail. He carefully pushed his hand into Yeosang's sweatpants, his fingers loosely wrapping around Yeosang's cock. Yeosang released a breath he hadn't even realized he had been holding. He guessed being intimate with someone new was always a bit nerve-wracking, the feeling of vulnerability and excitement mingling to create an odd type of nervosity.</p><p>It was so good to have a hand that wasn't his own on himself and he wanted to return the favour, wanted to make Seonghwa feel just as good. "Can I—I also want to touch you," Yeosang mumbled against Seonghwa's lips. </p><p>Seonghwa ran his thumb over the head of Yeosang's cock, which made Yeosang moan softly, before he replied, "You can."</p><p>Yeosang removed his hand from Seonghwa's butt and attempted to push his sweats down, which was easier said than done considering that his other hand was trapped between Seonghwa's head and the pillow. Noticing the way Yeosang was struggling, Seonghwa laughed quietly and pulled his hand out of Yeosang's pants, taking off his own trousers and throwing them on the floor where their shirts were already residing. Yeosang checked out Seonghwa again now that he was entirely naked and almost started salivating. Seonghwa said, "You should take yours off, too."</p><p>Finally, Yeosang managed to tear his gaze away from the adonis in front of him to undress as well. Once his pants had also landed on the ground, Seonghwa pulled him in for a kiss again,  shoving his tongue past Yeosang's lips leisurely. Yeosang closed his eyes, reciprocating the forward kiss with just as much enthusiasm. When Seonghwa's hand wrapped around his erect cock again, he moaned in surprise and trailed his own hand down Seonghwa's chest until he was met with soft hair and hard flesh. </p><p>Yeosang took Seonghwa's erection in his hand, appreciating the heavy feeling of it when he started moving his hand languidly, building up a nice rhythm. Seonghwa moved his hand in synch, paying special attention to the tip whenever Yeosang did. </p><p>After a while, the stimulation was becoming too much for Yeosang and he could feel himself nearing his climax. At this point they weren't even kissing anymore, they were just breathing heavily into each other's mouths. Sometimes they made eye contact, which made everything even better, and other times they closed their eyes to relish in the sensations. "Seonghwa," Yeosang panted, hoping that this would somehow be enough to communicate his overwhelming need to come. </p><p>He didn't get a verbal reply, but Seonghwa sped the movements of his hand up and Yeosang's mouth fell open in a quiet moan when he came, his grip on Seonghwa's cock loosening and effectively becoming useless for a few seconds before he regained his countenance and started jerking Seonghwa off again, trying to make him orgasm, too. It wasn't long until he spilled over Yeosang's hand, groaning lowly as he released. It was about the loveliest sound Yeosang has ever had the pleasure of hearing. </p><p>Yeosang watched as Seonghwa's eyebrows that he had drawn together during his climax slowly relaxed again and as his eyes opened drowsily. He looked so beautiful, Yeosang couldn't help but lean in to peck his cheek before he cuddled up to Seonghwa, resting his head on his chest. </p><p>When Seonghwa suddenly moved, Yeosang whined, displeased. Did Seonghwa suddenly have something important to do that required him to get up? Or was he not into post-coital cuddling? Before Yeosang's thoughts could go in any negative directions, Seonghwa chuckled at the disgruntled sound Yeosang had made and said, "I'm just grabbing some tissues from the nightstand, then I'll stay still, I promise."</p><p>Made sense, Yeosang thought. He could feel the sperm on his hand beginning to dry and grimaced. He could have realized that Seonghwa, who liked everything to be clean and orderly was just going to clean them up, but Yeosang guessed his remaining brain cells weren't capable of logical thinking post-orgasm. He let Seonghwa reach over him and took in the way his skin glistened from sweat. Seonghwa then proceeded to wipe their hands clean before he threw the dirty tissues in the general direction of the nightstand. </p><p>This time, Seonghwa was the one who pulled Yeosang close first, tucking his head under his chin again. "Thanks," Yeosang muttered into Seonghwa's chest.</p><p>"What for?" Seonghwa asked, confused.</p><p>Yeosang wriggled in Seonghwa's tight hug so that he could move back a bit and look at Seonghwa's face. Actually, Yeosang had no idea what he was thanking him for. The handjob? Cleaning them up? The cuddle session? Yeosang sheepishly admitted, "I don't know."</p><p>Seonghwa chuckled and Yeosang found that he couldn't help but giggle along. The sound was just that contagious. "You're cute," Seonghwa said and started petting Yeosang's hair, running his fingers through it. He added, "That was nice."</p><p>"It was," Yeosang agreed, tangling their legs together. "We should do that again some time."</p><p>"We really should," Seonghwa said, tracing Yeosang's arm with his hand, stopping on his elbow and rubbing it. </p><p>When Yeosang realized what Seonghwa was doing, he explained. "One of the many scars I got from skateboarding, or rather failing at skateboarding. You should see my knees."</p><p>Seonghwa hummed and said, "At least you don't have scars from awkward accidents."</p><p>Raising an eyebrow, Yeosang replied, "Okay, now I'm curious. Spill."</p><p>"Alright, so, I was around twelve, I think. It was in the summer, and one day I got really bored, so like every kid I came to the conclusion that I was going to try something cool. There are some chestnut trees in our garden, so I wanted to climb one of them." </p><p>Yeosang had a pretty good idea where this was going. </p><p>"Now, I know what you're thinking. You think that I climbed the tree and fell down like an amateur. Well, that didn't happen. I didn't even make it to the tree because I was clumsy as hell, so I stumbled and fell over my own feet and managed to slice my leg on a sharp ass stone that was sticking out of the ground. That's how this happened," Seonghwa explained, pointing towards a pale scar on his shin.</p><p>"Well, that's not what I expected," Yeosang admitted. Chuckling into the palm of his hand, he asked, "Do you still trip over your feet a lot?"</p><p>Seonghwa lightly kicked Yeosang's ankle, but he was also smiling. "Not as often as I used to." Grinning widely, he added, "But I thought we've already established that you'd be my knight in shining armour and catch me should I ever fall."</p><p>Yeosang dramatically gasped, "How could I ever forget that? I'm an honourable man, I stand by my word."</p><p>They continued their banter, sharing anecdotes from their childhoods, laughing and teasing until the sun started setting. It was nice, living like this, Yeosang thought.</p><p> </p><p>*</p><p>Yeosang stopped typing to stretch his arms out in front of his body, linking his fingers together and listening to them crack satisfyingly. He then stretched his arms above his head, moving them left and right until his shoulders cracked, too. Then, he lowered them and softly rolled his head, attempting to relax his neck. </p><p>He was currently sitting on his own bed, laptop on his thighs because he was working on an essay for one of his classes. Fortunately, he was finally done writing this atrociously boring thing. All he had to do now was edit, but he would do that later. There was no way he could continue working at the moment, especially because he knew that it was going to take a while. It wasn't even because he made that many mistakes, but because he was never satisfied with his original choice of words. He always had to switch everything up.</p><p>After Yeosang had turned off his laptop and set it aside, he let his gaze wander, trying to relax his eyes that were feeling dry from staring at his screen too long. He pushed up his glasses with his pointer finger and watched Seonghwa, who had taken up camp at the desk and was currently bent over it in a way that most likely would cause his back to hurt sooner rather than later. Yeosang wondered whether his own posture was also this bad when he was working on something. It would certainly explain a lot of things. </p><p>Before Yeosang could get any more immersed in his thoughts, a noise could be heard from Seonghwa's direction. The way his stomach growled was almost loud enough to echo through the room. Seonghwa stopped drawing and looked up, equally as surprised as Yeosang. Seonghwa's surprise was almost comical. Had he truly not noticed how hungry he had become? He must have seriously been focussed on drawing.</p><p>Yeosang jumped up from the bed and went to stand behind Seonghwa, resting his hands on the man's shoulders and starting to massage them lightly. Seonghwa sighed and leaned into the touch, letting Yeosang rub circles into his tense muscles. </p><p>After a while, Yeosang stopped his ministrations and leaned down to give Seonghwa something akin to a backhug, letting his chin rest on his shoulder. "Should we make food?" he asked, even though the answer was quite obvious in his humble opinion.</p><p>"Yeah," Seonghwa sighed, but he didn't bother getting up. Instead, he leaned further into Yeosang's embrace. </p><p>"You do know that you have to get up to cook something, right?" Yeosang teased. </p><p>Seonghwa simply grumbled something unintelligible that vaguely sounded like a litany of various forms of <i>ugh</i>. Then, he lifted his hand to point towards his cheek. Yeosang good-naturedly rolled his eyes at Seonghwa's behaviour, but he gave in anyway. That was a temptation he couldn't resist, so he turned his head and pressed a lingering kiss to Seonghwa's cheek. Then, he said, "Alright, you big baby, can you get up now?"</p><p>"Hm," Seonghwa hummed and pretended to continue thinking for a few more seconds before he decided, "Yeah, that was pretty energizing. Let's go!" </p><p>Seonghwa got up, stretching his body much like Yeosang had. "Ramen?" Yeosang asked as he trailed behind Seonghwa, who actually did seem revived. Huh. That was just the prospect of getting something to eat, Yeosang guessed. He could definitely relate to the feeling considering that he was actually also feeling pretty damn hungry. </p><p>"Yeah, except if you have the motivation to make anything fancier," Seonghwa stated.</p><p>"Hell no," Yeosang grimaced. It was kind of late in the evening and both of them were getting tired. Their lunch had been pretty nice and nutritious, so he didn't mind the convenient instant noodles. </p><p>They grabbed a pot, the noodles and made their way to the communal kitchen where they cooked their noodles. When they were done, they took the pot back to Yeosang's room where they put its contents into two bowls, eating side by side on the floor. They ended up eating in silence because both of them were too hungry to try and make conversation. </p><p>That was until Yeosang spotted something on the floor that almost made him spit out the noodles. "Seonghwa..." he trailed off. </p><p>The man in question looked up from his bowl. The sight was funny, really, because he had been in the middle of shoving noodles into his mouth so half of them were still hanging out. And normally Yeosang would have appreciated the hilarious sight, but there was something else on his mind.</p><p>"Do you see that bug?" Yeosang asked, looking in the direction of the hideous thing that was crawling over his floor like it owned the place.</p><p>Once Seonghwa's eyes had landed on it, he tried his best to chew and swallow his food as quickly as possible, which almost made him choke. When he was finally done, he asked, "What about it?"</p><p>With a quiet voice, Yeosang explained, "It's pretty gross, isn't it?"</p><p>Something seemed to click in Seonghwa's mind. "Do you perhaps want me to throw it out?"</p><p>"Yes, please." Yeosang sounded incredibly relieved.</p><p>Seonghwa carefully set his bowl aside and moved to the spot where the bug was still flitting across the floor, bending down to let it crawl onto his hand. Once it was in the palm of Seonghwa's hand, he cupped the other one over it and walked to the window that was wide open to let some fresh air inside. Yeosang watched as he stuck his hand out of the window, letting the bug fly away. Yeosang breathed a sigh of relief and Seonghwa closed the window before he returned and plopped down next to Yeosang again to continue eating.</p><p>"So, are you scared of bugs?" Seonghwa asked conversationally.</p><p>Yeosang swallowed some soup. "I wouldn't say I'm scared, like, I would have thrown it out myself had I been alone, but I am grossed out by them. That's kind of funny, actually, because I used to be rather curious about them when I was a kid. Back then I'd just sit in the garden and watch all types of bugs for hours. But then my sister played a trick on me one day. She caught some bugs and hid them in my bed because she thought that would be funny, but it was honestly just pretty gross and scared the hell out of me when I wanted to go to sleep." </p><p>Setting his now empty bowl aside, Yeosang continued speaking, "My mom was so mad when she found out and had to get rid of them. Ever since that day I've just been kind of disgusted by anything with six or more legs, to be honest."</p><p>Seonghwa snorted. "What a story. My siblings never pulled any stunts like that, even though we played tricks on each other all the time. I guess I'm lucky."</p><p>"You truly are," Yeosang agreed and got up, taking his and Seonghwa's empty bowls to the sink in the anteroom. At least he didn't have to go to the communal kitchen to wash the dishes. That would be too much to handle for his lazy self.</p><p>Yeosang whistled a song while he did it, so it was safe to say he was surprised when arms wrapped around his middle all of a sudden. Seonghwa nuzzled Yeosang's neck, much like Yeosang had done before.</p><p>"Hey," Seonghwa mumbled into his skin before he pressed a kiss behind his ear.</p><p>"Hey, you," Yeosang chuckled.</p><p>"I missed you," Seonghwa complained and Yeosang didn't even have to see him to know that he was pouting. </p><p>Yeosang laughed at Seonghwa's dramatic behaviour and continued washing the dishes, but it was hard to focus when Seonghwa continued kissing his neck, and the way he was pressed against Yeosang's back didn't exactly help, either. </p><p>Once Yeosang was done with the last dish and had put it beside the sink to let it dry, one of Seonghwa's hands started wandering across Yeosang's abdomen, stopping right above the waistband of his sweatpants. </p><p>Seonghwa's company was nice. They could sit in silence and do their thing, but they could also interact comfortably. He was a good friend...or whatever he was when his fingers brushed over Yeosang's front. </p><p>Yeosang was ready to melt. Before either of them could take things further, he said, "What do you say about letting me wash my hands with actual soap and then taking this to the bed?"</p><p>"That sounds like a great plan," Seonghwa basically purred in Yeosang's ear, and moved back to let Yeosang go to the bathroom to wash his hands. "Should I already get undressed?" Seonghwa called teasingly, but also went to the bathroom to wash his hands. He had touched the bug, after all.</p><p>"Without me?" Yeosang asked, wiggling his eyebrows. </p><p>Seonghwa put on a contemplative expression. "On second thought, that's probably a bad idea."</p><p>Yeosang grinned and stalked towards Seonghwa, walking him backwards into his room and kicking the door shut. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear," he said cheekily and tugged his shirt over his head before he linked his hands behind Seonghwa's neck to pull him down for a kiss.  </p><p>Seonghwa immediately wrapped his arms around Yeosang's waist, splaying his hands on his back, which made Yeosang arch into Seonghwa's chest that was still far too clothed for Yeosang's taste. He pulled away to tug Seonghwa's shirt off. "Oh man," Seonghwa laughed, "I knew I should have undressed before. You're just too impatient." </p><p>That made Yeosang scoff in faux offence. He slapped Seonghwa's side with the shirt he was now holding in his hand and said, "Excuse me, how would you know that I'm impatient from the single sexual encounter we've had?"</p><p>Seonghwa pried his shirt out of Yeosang's hold, letting it fall to the ground and teased, "Are you not?" He backed Yeosang up against the bed until Yeosang had no choice but to sit down on it. </p><p>Yeosang put his hands around Seonghwa's hips before he lay down, tugging Seonghwa on top of him in a tangle of limbs. "I have no idea what you're talking about," Yeosang said innocently before he put his mouth on Seonghwa's to kiss his smug smirk away. Seonghwa giggled into the kiss, which did something weird to Yeosang's heart. Why did he have to be so adorable?</p><p>Slowly, Yeosang trailed his hands over Seonghwa's body, trying to save every dip and curve to a file in his brain that was dedicated to Seonghwa only. He broke the kiss in favour of sucking on Seonghwa's neck, leaving a few faint marks this time. The way Seonghwa groaned was rather satisfying and went directly to his cock that was hardening rapidly. </p><p>When Yeosang sucked particularly hard on a soft patch of skin, Seonghwa whined and shifted on top of Yeosang. To Yeosang's satisfaction, Seonghwa was also hard already. Yeosang snaked his hand between their bodies to cup Seonghwa through his pants. </p><p>Seonghwa sounded like he was out of breath when he attempted to tease, "Are you sure you're not impatient?"</p><p>Yeosang lifted an eyebrow. "Are you complaining?"</p><p>"Not at all," Seonghwa told Yeosang and ground down into the palm of his hand leisurely. </p><p>Jesus Christ. Having Seonghwa grind his hips like this on top of him and groaning into his ear did things to Yeosang. His imagination was running so wild that his brain to mouth filter turned off. At least that's what he figured must have happened when he blurted, "Fuck me."</p><p>Immediately, Seonghwa stilled on top of him. Once Yeosang's horny gremlin brain noticed the sudden change and caught up with the situation, he said, "Sorry, I—we don't have to anything like that if you don't want to, obviously." </p><p>Seonghwa pushed himself up to look at Yeosang, who was blushing furiously. Yeosang had no idea where this sudden spark of confidence had come from. It was unlike him to come on so strong. But what he saw in Seonghwa's eyes wasn't hesitance. They were dark with lust, but no less sparkly than usually. "Trust me, I do want that. I just feared I didn't hear right."</p><p>Relieved that they were on the same page, Yeosang smiled and pulled Seonghwa down again to reconnect their lips. When Seonghwa shifted and Yeosang's hard length rubbed against his thigh, he gasped and Seonghwa took the opportunity to take Yeosang's bottom lip between his teeth, biting down softly, but it was enough to send sparks of electricity through Yeosang's body.</p><p>Then, Seonghwa's mouth left his, but it soon reappeared on Yeosang's throat where Seonghwa left a quick kiss on his adam's apple before wandering lower. When he used one of the only weaknesses he knew about Yeosang and licked at his nipple, fingers playing with the other one, Yeosang came to the conclusion that Seonghwa liked to tease. </p><p>Yeosang also realized that Seonghwa must like taking things slow, if his earlier comment about Yeosang being impatient was anything to go by. If Yeosang was being honest he had no idea what he had gotten himself into, but he was certain he would find out soon enough and that finding out would be satisfying to say the least.</p><p>When Seonghwa switched his mouth and his hand, Yeosang couldn't hold back a whine. His tongue was working pure magic on Yeosang and the fingers squeezing the wet nipple made Yeosang feel hot all over. With a final flick of the tongue, Seonghwa pulled away from Yeosang's chest and he melted into the pillow, much more relaxed. </p><p>That was until Seonghwa decided to lean down and lick a stripe from Yeosang's belly button to the dip between his collar bones. "Seonghwa," Yeosang gasped and squirmed. He couldn't decide whether the sensation was ticklish or pleasant. Maybe both.</p><p>"I'm right here," Seonghwa said and smoothly kissed Yeosang's open mouth. His tongue traced patterns on Yeosang's and the blond boy wrapped his legs around Seonghwa's hips, grinding up and simultaneously making Seonghwa grind down. Seonghwa laughed into the kiss and held Yeosang's hips down with his hands, saying,"Oh my, I knew it."</p><p>Before Yeosang could give Seonghwa an offended reply, Seonghwa started grinding down himself, his hard cock dragging over Yeosang's own erection. Yeosang groaned and Seonghwa added, "You're so cute." To Yeosang's satisfaction, he also sounded a bit affected. Yeosang feared that he might come embarrassingly quickly if Seonghwa continued his ministrations, so he was more than grateful when Seonghwa sat up.</p><p>Seonghwa pulled Yeosang's pants and underwear off and Yeosang turned to the side to rummage through his nightstand drawer, looking for a bottle of lube and a condom while Seonghwa also got naked. The sight of a bare Seonghwa kneeling between Yeosang's legs was about the best thing Yeosang has ever experienced and he kind of wished to have a photographic memory.</p><p>"Are you going to do anything or are you just going to continue staring at me?" Yeosang asked teasingly, spreading his legs farther apart. </p><p>Smiling, Seonghwa said, "I'm just enjoying the exquisite view." Perhaps he found Yeosang just as attractive and also wanted to relish in this moment. The thought was thrilling.</p><p>"Same here, if I'm being honest," Yeosang admitted. At that, Seonghwa leaned down to press a kiss to Yeosang's knee. With a quickly beating heart, Yeosang watched as Seonghwa squeezed a good amount of lube onto his fingers, rubbing them together to spread and warm the viscous substance.</p><p>"You ready?" Seonghwa asked, stroking the inside of Yeosang's thigh with his clean hand.</p><p>"Yes, Seonghwa, please," Yeosang breathed.</p><p>The hand on the inside of Yeosang's thigh moved to the underside of his leg and Seonghwa pushed it back, pushing a knee to Yeosang's chest. Yeosang got the hint and pulled his other knee to his chest as well to give Seonghwa better access. </p><p>Once a cool, slippery finger entered Yeosang slowly, he took a deep breath. It had been so long since anyone has done this for him. The most he'd done during his time alone was occasionally fingering himself or using his vibrator, but normally he didn't really need all that to get off. Now it was different, though. It felt good to have someone else take control of his pleasure and touch him like this. </p><p>When Seonghwa worked a second finger inside, Yeosang hummed in satisfaction and let his hand slide down to rest over Seonghwa's hand that was still holding on to Yeosang's thigh. For a moment, Seonghwa's fingers tightened around the flesh in reply to Yeosang's gesture. </p><p>Continuing to stretch Yeosang, Seonghwa added one more finger and pushed them deeper, but he was still fingering Yeosang at a painfully slow pace. Yeosang couldn't remember the last time he'd been fingered like this. He wasn't even this careful and patient when he played with himself. Though Yeosang usually liked to go a bit faster, there was no denying that he also enjoyed this—the slow, deliberate movements of Seonghwa's fingers made him feel <i>everything</i>.</p><p>Seonghwa leaned down to leave kisses on the inside of Yeosang's thighs and Yeosang watched with rapt attention, his heart skipping a beat. But maybe that was just because Seonghwa suddenly decided to curl his fingers upwards and leave Yeosang shaking with every thrust of his fingers. Yeosang moaned quietly and pushed his hips down to meet Seonghwa's hand until he was feeling breathless.</p><p>When Yeosang felt like he was getting too close, he reached down and took a hold of Seonghwa's wrist, stopping him from moving it. Yeosang looked at Seonghwa, trying to control his breathing. He only said a single word. "Please."</p><p>Seonghwa retracted his hand and Yeosang sat up, taking the wrapper beside him and opening it carefully before he rolled the condom onto Seonghwa's cock with nimble fingers. Then, because he couldn't help himself, he pushed Seonghwa onto his back. </p><p>Seonghwa landed on the mattress with a little <i>oof</i> and a look of surprise on his face. "Are you into manhandling?" he asked, his expression changing into one full of mirth. </p><p>"Ah," Yeosang said, blushing, "Yeah?" He was usually much better at controlling impulsive urges like this.</p><p>"Good to kow," Seonghwa smiled and Yeosang was glad he was okay with it. He was aware he should have asked first. "I also like that."</p><p>Feeling confident again, Yeosang repeated Seonghwa's words, "That's also good to know." He quickly searched the bed for the bottle of lube and found it stuck between the mattress and the wall. He took it and squeezed a good amount out before he spread it over Seonghwa's dick. And if he spent more time on that task than was strictly necessary it was because of the pretty sounds Seonghwa made when Yeosang's slippery hand slid over his erection. </p><p>"Yeosang," Seonghwa panted, thrusting into his fist. "Please."</p><p>That was when Yeosang stopped his ministrations, wiping his hand on his own cock before he straddled Seonghwa. "Isn't it funny how the tables have turned?" Yeosang asked teasingly. </p><p>"I guess I'm just as desperate for you as you are for me," Seonghwa replied innocently, splaying his hands on Yeosang's thighs. The image of those hands on his legs was delicious and very distracting, but he reached behind himself to place Seonghwa's tip at his entrance. </p><p>He sank down slowly, taking his time and enjoying the way Seonghwa stretched him out. When he was fully seated, he leaned forward to rest his hands on Seonghwa's chest and started rolling his hips. </p><p>Seonghwa wrapped a hand around Yeosang's cock and moved it leisurely. Yeosang suddenly didn't know which stimulation he should focus on. He fell onto Seonghwa's chest, but he didn't stop grinding down and Seonghwa didn't slow the movements of his hand down either. </p><p>"Seonghwa," Yeosang drawled and sucked at his neck again to silence himself. Seonghwa also groaned and the sound hit right where it felt best. Maybe that was just Seonghwa's dick, though. Either way, Yeosang gasped, "I'm gonna come."</p><p>"It's alright," Seonghwa said, rubbing his thumb over the head of Yeosang's leaking erection. For good measure, he added, "I got you."</p><p>That was all it took for Yeosang to let go and spill over Seonghwa's abdomen. Once Yeosang was spent, Seonghwa retracted his hand and grabbed Yeosang's hips, rolling them over so that he was on top instead. Yeosang gasped at the sudden change in position and writhed as Seonghwa continued fucking into him, penetrating him so deeply Yeosang could feel his soul leaving his body. He wrapped his legs around Seonghwa's middle and his arms around Seonghwa's neck, holding him impossibly close. </p><p>Just when Yeosang found the overstimulation to become overwhelming, Seonghwa stilled on top of him, moaning right beside Yesoang's ear before he lifted himself to kiss him deeply. Yeosang tangled his fingers in Seonghwa's dark hair and reciprocated the affection with ease. </p><p>When Seonghwa broke their kiss to get up and dispose of the condom, Yeosang went starfish on the bed. He felt blissed out and boneless. "I think that was the best first time I've ever had," Yeosang admitted and turned his head to look at Seonghwa who was pulling some tissues out of the box on Yeosang's desk to wipe his abdomen. </p><p>Then, he walked over to Yeosang and handed him a tissue as well, waiting for him to clean himself up and then taking the handkerchief from him, throwing it away. Seonghwa unceremoniously plopped down on top of Yeosang because he still hadn't moved from his position that took up all the space. </p><p>Yeosang caughed and gasped for air exaggeratedly, acting as though he was dying under Seonghwa's weight. Rolling his eyes, Seonghwa playfully slapped Yeosang's chest. "You're really ungrateful for someone who's just had their best first time ever. Scoot," Seonghwa pouted. </p><p>Yeosang considered whether he wanted Seonghwa to stay on top of him, which was actually pretty nice because he was warm like a blanket, or next to him, but decided on the latter when a bone dug into him. He shuffled around to make space for Seonghwa, who immediately rolled off him and curled around Yeosang. </p><p>"So..." Seonghwa trailed off. "What was your worst first time like?" </p><p>He was visibly surprised when Yeosang started laughing. "You sure ask the good questions. Okay, so, it was with a girl I had been dating for a couple of weeks. We were from the same town, so we took the same train home for the holidays. And you know how it is, there's something about train rides. Maybe the boredom. Anyway, we started kissing and got really into it, so we took it to the bathroom. I know, not a very romantic place to have sex with someone for the first time, but we didn't care." </p><p>"Anyway, the sex wasn't even bad apart from the kind of uncomfortable position. But then someone started knocking and was, like, begging to get inside because they had diarrhoea... I think you can imagine how awkward it was when two people came out of the stall. So, yeah, that was the worst. Embarrassing <i>and</i> unsatisfying."</p><p>Seonghwa was hiding his laughter behind his hand and wheezed, "A <i>train toilet</i>!"</p><p>Yeosang chuckled along and asked, "Have you never had sex in any questionable places?"</p><p>Humming in thought, Seonghwa mused, "The wildest thing I've ever done was blowing a guy in the pavillon behind his house... while his family was at home and could have come outside any time." </p><p>"I wouldn't have taken you to be an exhibitionist," Yeosang chuckled.</p><p>Seonghwa defensively choked out, "I'm not!"</p><p>"Sure you aren't," Yeosang teased and asked, "So, tell me about your worst first time."</p><p>"Do one time only things count?" Seonghwa asked.</p><p>Yeosang shrugged, "Sure. First time doesn't mean there has to be a second time."</p><p>"Right. So, I met a guy at a party and we hit it off. I don't really do one-night stands, but I was so into him I went back to his place. And in the beginning, it was okay, but then, while we were doing it, he asked me to lick his whole face. I'm not kinkshaming or anything, but that kind of weirded me out so bad my dick just said goodbye. He didn't really mind that, but when he asked me if I could suck his toes to make up for it I was out of there. That whole encounter was really not my cup of tea."</p><p>With a teasing smirk, Yeosang teased, "Too bad, does that mean you won't suck on my toes, either?"</p><p>Seonghwa grimaced and exclaimed, "Stoooop, you're going to give me flashbacks."</p><p>Giggling, Yeosang surrendered, "Okay, okay, I won't bring it up again. Do you want to sleep here tonight?"</p><p>Seonghwa gave Yeosang a genial smile and said, "Yeah, that would be nice."</p><p>"Alright," Yeosang yawned and lazily got up, holding out a hand for Seonghwa to take, "Come on, let's shower, then we can cuddle until we fall asleep."</p><p>"That sounds like a great plan."</p><p> </p><p>*</p><p> </p><p>"Have you ever done anything drastic?" Seonghwa asked. The question came out of the blue, with nothing to prompt it. </p><p>"Uh, define drastic?" Yeosang replied. </p><p>It was only a few days after their steamy encounter and they were currently lying on Seonghwa's bed, their heads on the opposite ends of the mattress and their feet tangled together. Seonghwa had been reading a book prior to asking his question and Yeosang was playing a game on his phone. </p><p>Seonghwa lowered his book and looked at Yeosang. "Like shaving your head?"</p><p>"Uhm, no, I've never done anything like that. The only drastic shit I've ever done to my hair was bleaching it a while ago," Yeosang replied, running a hand through his bright blond hair. "Why do you ask?"</p><p>Seonghwa put a bookmark between the pages and closed his book, placing it in his lap for the time being. "Do you think I'd look good with a sidecut?"</p><p>Locking his phone and dropping it beside him, Yeosang sat up and said, "Wait. Is this some random ass bored in quarantine thought?"</p><p>Smiling, Seonghwa replied, "No, I've actually been wanting to try it for ages, but I've never really had the guts to do it. And now would be a good time, wouldn't it? So, what do you think?"</p><p>Yeosang took a look at Seonghwa and tried to imagine it. "You'd look great, I think."</p><p>"Okay. Do you think you could do it for me?" Seonghwa looked at Yeosang with curious eyes.</p><p>Yeosang's eyes went big. "You want <i>me</i> to shave your head?" </p><p>Seonghwa ran a hand through his hair sheepishly. "Unless you're scared of messing up real bad." When Yeosang still hesitated, he added, "I'd try it myself, but I fear that <i>that</i> would end up looking real bad. I think it's better to have someone else do it."</p><p>Yeosang considered it. The worst thing that could possibly happen was that he messed up Seonghwa's hairstyle. But honestly, he didn't think he'd do that bad. He'd just do his best and try not to mess up. "Alright, I'll do it. Do you have a shaver?"</p><p>"I don't, but my roommate left his here when he went home. He actually knows that I want to try a sidecut, so he allowed me to use it in case I actually decided to go through with it," Seonghwa explained. </p><p>"Well, then, let's go," Yeosang exclaimed and jumped up from the bed, watching Seonghwa laugh in reply. He put his book down on the nightstand and got up as well, making his way to the bathroom. Yeosang followed, taking the hair tie off his wrist and pulling his hair back to tie a little ponytail. He didn't want it getting in the way. </p><p>When Seonghwa's gaze fell on him, he couldn't help but coo, "You look adorable like this! I can't believe you didn't let me see you like this sooner."</p><p>Yeosang blushed and mumbled, "Oh my, please stop, I can't take this."</p><p>"Why?" Seonghwa pouted. "It's just the truth. This look really suits you." Seonghwa surprised Yeosang by cupping his cheek. Then he leaned in to plant a kiss beside Yeosang's left eye. Yeosang felt breathless at the simple yet loving gesture. He looked into Seonghwa's eyes that somehow seemed more sparkly and warmer than usually. But maybe that was just an illusion caused by the yellowish light in the bathroom. </p><p>Either way, Yeosang rewarded Seonghwa with a bright smile before he caressed the back of the hand cupping his cheek. He turned his head to leave a kiss on Seonghwa's palm. Then, he said, "Come on, let's shave your hair now."</p><p>Seonghwa hummed in agreement and took an electric shaver out of a cabinet, handing it to Yeosang. "So, how should we go about this?" Yeosang asked, looking at the device in wonder.</p><p>"Okay, so," Seonghwa said, closing the lid of the toilet. "You can sit here and I'll just sit on the floor, I think it will be easier like that. Now, let me part my hair real quick and then we can start."</p><p>While Seonghwa dealt with his hair, Yeosang eyed the shaver. "Which length should we go for?" he asked. </p><p>"Uhm," Seonghwa said, staring at himself in the mirror with a comb in his hand. "Like six millimetres maybe?"</p><p>Yeosang released a noise of agreement and once everything was prepared, Seonghwa sat down between Yeosang's legs, the area that was going to be shaved parted from the rest of his hair. Jesus, Yeosang seriously hoped he wouldn't accidentally shave more than that or mess up in any other, unexpected way. </p><p>Well, there was only one way to find out. He turned on the shaver and started working, carefully dragging it over the side of Seonghwa's head. It was fascinating to watch his hair fall. Yeosang went over the area multiple times until everything was even and there was no long hair anymore. That had been surprisingly easy, he thought. </p><p>"Done," Yeosang exclaimed once he was satisfied with his work and turned off the electric shaver. </p><p>Seonghwa ran a hand over the now shaved area and said, "Oh my God." Then, he got up, brushing black strands off his shirt, and looked himself in the mirror, checking his new look out. "Oh my God," he repeated upon seeing his reflection.</p><p>"Is that a good oh my God or a bad one?" Yeosang asked curiously. He was a bit nervous, after all he was the artist and had some responsibility if Seonghwa found his new hairstyle atrocious.</p><p>Seonghwa turned to look at Yeosang and that's when Yeosang's heart almost gave out. What the fuck. Seonghwa was clearly handsome, from an objective point of view. And in Yeosang's opinion he was one of the most attractive men he'd ever seen. But now, holy shit. He looked smoking hot. Yeosang had to get a grip on himself before he embarrassed himself and fell off the toilet. </p><p>"A good one, definitely. Are you sure you've never done this before? It looks really nice, don't you think?" Seonghwa said with a happy smile on his face. Yeosang swooned. "You good?" Seonghwa wanted to know. </p><p>Yeosang got up and stood before Seonghwa, running a hand over the area with the short hair and then through the long hair. "Very good," Yeosang said. </p><p>Seonghwa raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? You look like you want to fuck me dumb."</p><p>Now that sounded like something Yeosang could get behind. "Would you?"</p><p>"Would I what?" Seonghwa asked, calm and calculated in a manner that told Yeosang he was well aware where this was going.</p><p>"Let me fuck you dumb," Yeosang elaborated either way, his hand moving from Seonghwa's hair to rest on his neck instead. Just speaking the words alone made him feel hot.</p><p>Seonghwa hummed, pretending to think about it. "I don't know. You look pretty faint, do you really think you can pull that off?"</p><p>"I think there's only one way to find out," Yeosang said, caressing Seonghwa's neck by softly brushing his fingers over it. </p><p>Seonghwa chuckled, stepping away from Yeosang and out of the bathroom. Yeosang watched him, baffled and frozen in place. That was until Seonghwa turned around to give him an expectant yet playful glance. "What are you doing? Come and give me your best."</p><p>Finally, Yeosang snapped out of his trance and with one last regretful look towards the hairy bathroom floor that they'd have to clean later, he followed Seonghwa into his room. Seonghwa lay down and pulled Yeosang down on top of him, their bodies melting together as they kissed. </p><p>Honestly, Yeosang wouldn't claim that he had a lot of experience with classy cuisine or expensive drinks, but he was certain that nothing he'd ever taste could be as exquisite as Seonghwa's mouth. The way he kissed was sophisticated and passionate alike, with a firm press of the mouth and sensual flicks of the tongue. His kisses were enough to get Yeosang hot and bothered, so it wasn't long until they were rolling around on the bed in order to pull each other's clothes off. </p><p>Once they were bare, Yeosang asked, "Where do you keep your things?"</p><p>"The drawer beside the desk," Seonghwa replied and propped himself up on his elbows as he watched Yeosang get up to rummage through the drawers until he found the right one. He giggled when he saw Yesoang's facial expression.</p><p>"Are you, like, a pornstar or something? Or are these just for private pleasure?" Yeosang asked incredulously, pulling a pastel purple dildo out. The thing was immense, way thicker and also longer than an average penis. The drawer was filled with more toys of all colours and sizes. Butt plugs, dildos, vibrators... Yeosang even spotted anal beads. He looked at Seonghwa, whose cheeks were pink. Huh.</p><p>"I don't do porn, I just... like feeling full," he murmured and Yeosang's dick twitched at the admission. </p><p>"That's—" Yeosang's brain went offline for a second at the mental image of Seonghwa fucking himself open with one of the various toys. "Oh my, that's really hot. I didn't expect that, to be honest."</p><p>"Well, you know how it is. Can't go out, so I want something to go in," Seonghwa said, wiggling his eyebrows greasily. </p><p>Yeosang had to laugh at Seonghwa's bad pun. When he continued rummaging through the drawer, he found a bottle of cherry scented lube. Seonghwa surely had taste, Yeosang thought, taking one of the condoms that were buried beneath the toys and kicking the drawer shut again. </p><p>"Can you lie across my lap?" Yeosang requested, approaching the bed again. </p><p>Seonghwa grinned. "Why? Do you want to spank me or something?"</p><p>Now it was Yeosang's turn to blush. "Uh, what—no, that's not—I mean, unless you want that?" Yeosang stammered. </p><p>Seonghwa gave Yeosang a curious look, but then he said, "Not now. But I'll lie across your lap anyway. Come here." Seonghwa sat up, making space for Yeosang who plopped down comfortably, sitting with his back against the wall. He hissed due to the cold feeling on his back, but he figured the wall would warm up soon enough.</p><p>Once Yeosang was situated, Seonghwa leaned in to give him a quick kiss before he lay down over Yeosang's thighs, his half hard dick trapped between their bodies. Seonghwa pillowed his head on his arms, turning it to the side so that he could see Yeosang from the corner of his eyes. </p><p>Yeosang took his time with Seonghwa, running his hands over his body, caressing and massaging his back, butt and his thighs. He was pleased to see that Seonghwa's eyes were closed. He was clearly enjoying the attention. Or he had fallen asleep. "Are you still awake?" Yeosang asked quietly.</p><p>Cracking an eye open, Seonghwa replied, "Yeah. How could I fall asleep when I'm anticipating your next move?" </p><p>Yeosang smiled and playfully ruffled Seonghwa's hair before he finally opened the bottle he had put to the side and squeezed a dollop of the cherry sweet substance on the crack of Seonghwa's ass. Seonghwa made a disgruntled sound that was cut off as soon as Yeosang started rubbing his fingers over Seonghwa's entrance, spreading the lube. </p><p>As soon as Yeosang let a finger slip inside, Seonghwa started writhing in his lap, pushing back on the digit. </p><p>"Oh my, and you thought I was impatient," Yeosang commented off-handedly, watching his finger slide into Seonghwa with ease. </p><p>Seonghwa teased, "And I thought you were going to give me your best." </p><p>"Those were <i>your</i> words, if I remember correctly," Yeosang replied and when Seonghwa deadass pouted at his words, he worked another finger in. It was evident that he was used to this. He relaxed easily and soon Yeosang had four fingers in him. At that point, he himself was throbbing with want. Having Seonghwa grinding back onto his hand and down on his thigh was a visual that did nothing to help him in this situation. </p><p>Finally, Yeosang retracted his fingers. He petted Seonghwa's butt. "Come on, get up."</p><p>When Seonghwa sat up again Yeosang noticed that his thigh was glistening from Seonghwa's precome. He swallowed audibly and reached for the condom, putting it on. While he slicked himself up, he asked, "What's your favourite position?"</p><p>Seonghwa licked his lips and offered, "I'll show you." He then proceeded to get on all fours, resting his weight on his forearms, knees spread widely. Well, then. Somehow Yeosang wasn't surprised. Like this, it would be easy and deep.</p><p>Yeosang rested his hands on Seonghwa's hips and wanted to know, "You ready?"</p><p>"Please, I've been ready since you looked at me like a horny sex demon in the bathroom," Seonghwa whined.</p><p>Yeosang snorted unattractively. Deciding that he didn't want to test Seonghwa's patience any longer, he slowly pushed forward, enjoying the long, drawn out moan that left Seonghwa's mouth. He clenched beautifully around him, arched his back beautifully, and fuck, even his groans sounded beautiful. Seonghwa as a whole was beautiful, that was all he knew and yeah, maybe Yeosang's brain had said goodbye, but who could blame him?</p><p>When Yeosang reached down to gently cup Seonghwa's balls, the boy bit his sheets and his grip on the fabric became so tight his knuckles were close to turning white. It didn't take long for Seonghwa to release with a low moan not even the fabric between his teeth could mute.</p><p>Yeosang pulled out and Seonghwa turned around to lie on his back, boneless and probably still high on ecstasy considering that he carelessly lay down on his own jizz. "Come on me," he requested and what was Yeosang supposed to do? Say no?</p><p>He rolled the condom off at the speed of lightning, carelessly dropping it beside him for the time being, and stroked himself roughly until he painted Seonghwa's tan skin with ropes of white like he was Pollock at work.</p><p>"You good?" Seonghwa asked once Yeosang had stared at him for a good amount of time. </p><p>Snapping out of it, Yeosang settled down on top of Seonghwa, kissing his cheek and telling him, "More than good."</p><p>Seonghwa hummed and asked, "What were you thinking about? You seemed pretty out of it."</p><p>"Just—Jackson Pollock," Yeosang mumbled awkwardly. </p><p>Seonghwa looked confused, but he didn't ask. Instead, he chuckled and said, "Okay, I already thought my ass broke you."</p><p>Chuckling along, Yeosang rubbed his nose against Seonghwa's. "It might as well have."</p><p>"Is that so?" Seonghwa asked and Yeosang hummed in agreement. "Then I have one request: next time you nut on me don't think about other men." </p><p>Yeosang made an affronted noise. "That's not what—I didn't—" he was rudely interrupted by Seonghwa, who pulled him down for a kiss. </p><p>"I know," he teased when he released Yeosang again. A smirk adorned his lips. "So, am I allowed to shower or would you be mad at me for destroying your piece of art?"</p><p>Blushing furiously, Yeosang mumbled, "You're insufferable." He hid his face in Seonghwa's neck.</p><p>"Aww," Seonghwa cooed. "Don't be like that. You still have to help me change the sheets."</p><p>A disgruntled <i>ugh</i> escaped Yeosang's mouth. "You're so bossy," he muttered, the sound of his voice coming out muffled against Seonghwa's skin. He decided to give him a hickey in revenge, but Seonghwa ran his fingers over Yeosang's sides, light as a feather, which automatically made Yesoang squirm away from his touch and forced a laugh out of him.</p><p>Seonghwa stated, "You love it." </p><p>Pulling back to look at those starry eyes, Yeosang could only think that, <i>yes</i>, he loved it.</p><p> </p><p>*</p><p> </p><p>The city looked beautiful at night. So many lights near and far, illuminating the world. No city ever truly slept, Yeosang mused as he took another drag of his joint. </p><p>The night was actually kind of warm. Usually, Yeosang found the roof to be rather windy and cold, but now that summer was approaching the weather wasn't quite so harsh anymore. </p><p>Suddenly, a question popped up in Yeosang's mind, completely unprompted. And he couldn't ignore it either, because he had already tried to forget about it for quite a while now. This was something that needed to be addressed immediately, at least according to his high mind.</p><p>Yeosang pulled his phone out of the pocket of his hoodie and dialled Seonghwa's number. Which was probably a dumb move because Seonghwa wasn't fourty years old, ergo his phone would most likely be muted. It was safe to say that Yeosang was surprised when he actually picked up. "Hey," Seonghwa's voice greeted. "What's up?" He sounded confused.</p><p>"Uh, you sound kind of breathless, am I interrupting a workout or something? Because this can also wait. In fact, it's actually not even important, now that I'm thinking about it," Yeosang laughed nervously. He was rambling. It was the weed's fault; he wasn't one of those people who felt sluggish after smoking it, it was actually the opposite for him.</p><p>There was a short period of silence before Seonghwa spoke again, "No, I was just cleaning, but I'm almost done, anyway. Where are you now?"</p><p>"Oh. I'm just smoking up here," Yeosang casually replied, like that explained anything. </p><p>"Well, that sounds cryptic. Where is <i>up here</i>?" Seonghwa asked and Yeosang could almost see his teasing smile.</p><p>"The roof." Maybe calling it <i>roof</i> was an exaggeration, it was actually more of a balcony considering how small it was, but whatever.</p><p>Seonghwa hummed in understanding. "Alright, I'll be right up."</p><p>The line went dead before Yeosang could give a reply. Well. Now there was no going back. Yeosang took a long, desperate hit, keeping the smoke in his lungs and only exhaling when he felt the need to breathe again. </p><p>When Seonghwa arrived, he put his hand on Yeosang's shoulder in lieu of greeting. "I didn't know you smoke," he said. "Can I?"</p><p>Yeosang held out the joint without hesitance, but he warned, "This is not a cigarette."</p><p>Seonghwa smiled. "I can smell that." When he took the blunt, their fingers touched and Yeosang could feel himself swoon once again. Perhaps that last hit had been a bit too much. He didn't say anything, he just watched as Seonghwa smoked his joint with ease. Huh. Seonghwa really was full of surprises.</p><p>"So," Seonghwa said, taking a drag and releasing the smoke through his nose, "What did you want to tell me?" </p><p>"Oh, uhm," Yeosang stammered, nervously toying with the cuffs of the hoodie that was slightly too big on him. "I just—do you think we're just, uh, friends because we're more or less locked up in the same building? Or is there, like, an after? For us?"</p><p>Seonghwa looked at Yeosang with a weird facial expression. Yeosang tried to understand its meaning, but then Seonghwa spoke, "I—I really want there to be an after for us. I don't just want to be with you for convenience, if that's what you're worried about." He let the finished blunt fall on the ground, stepping on it before he faced the blond boy again. "Yeosang, I genuinely like you."</p><p>Man, Yeosang had forgotten how good Seonghwa was with words. But maybe he was just impressed because there was no way he could display this much eloquence while he was high as a kite. Or at any other time, really. When he remembered that he should at least give Seonghwa some kind of verbal reply, he admitted, "I really like you, too."</p><p>Seonghwa gave him a blinding smile that Yeosang couldn't help but mirror. "Well, I'm glad we're on the same page. Now come here," Seonghwa said and made grabby hands at Yeosang, who complied immediately. Hugging Seonghwa felt nice. This moment was nice.</p><p>"Yeosang?" Seonghwa asked after a while. </p><p>Yeosang pulled away to look at Seonghwa. "Hm?"</p><p>"Is that my hoodie?"</p><p>Yeosang put his hands on his cheeks in an attempt to hide his blush, which, in hindsight, only made it more obvious because Seonghwa couldn't have possibly seen his red cheeks in the dim light. "Maybe."</p><p>Seonghwa put his hands on his chest in a dramatic manner and exclaimed, "Ah, my heart! You look so small and adorable in it."</p><p>Pouting, Yeosang retaliated, "You're literally only, like, five centimetres taller than me."</p><p>Seonghwa pulled Yeosang in for a hug again and mumbled, "No, you're tiny and I could put you in my pocket." </p><p>Yeosang simply laughed at Seonghwa's childish behaviour and melted into his embrace, holding onto him tightly in the pale moonlight.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>if you've made it to this point: congratulations and thank you for your time. i am now going to take a 10 year nap. pls leave your thoughts (and prayers) in the comments</p><p>find me on <a href="https://twitter.com/myHysteria">twt</a> if you're bored</p></blockquote></div></div>
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